LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — A federal judge temporarily blocked on Monday Arkansas' first-in-the-nation law that would have prohibited pharmacy benefit managers from owning pharmacies in the state.

U.S. District Judge Brian Miller issued a preliminary injunction against the law restricting pharmacy benefit managers, who run prescription drug coverage for big clients that include health insurers and employers that provide coverage.

Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed the restriction into law earlier this year, and it was set to take effect Jan. 1, 2026. CVS and Express Scripts had sued the state over the law.

The law, Miller wrote, "appears to overtly discriminate against plaintiffs as out of state companies and the state has failed to show that it has no other means to advance

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