Attorney General Leslie Rutledge has filed a lawsuit against drug manufacturers and Pharmacy Benefit Managers for manipulating and inflating insulin and drug prices in Arkansas. The complaint, filed in Pulaski County, alleges that Novo Nordisk, Sanofi and Eli Lilly conspired with Express Scripts, Caremark and Optum to increase their revenues by deceptively driving up the costs of insulin, making insulin and other diabetic treatments unaffordable for many diabetics in Arkansas and creating a financial burden for consumers.
More than 400,000 people in Arkansas have been diagnosed with diabetes and more than 800,000 are pre-diabetic, making diabetes an epidemic in Arkansas and the seventh-leading cause of death in the state, despite the availability of effective treatment. Many Arkansans rely on daily insulin treatments to survive. Millions more use oral medications, insulin or a combination to control their diabetes. The inflated costs have made it more difficult for Arkansas diabetic patients to buy their medications, leading to avoidable complications and higher overall healthcare costs.
Insulin has been around since the 1920s, but the first synthetic insulin was produced commercially in the 1980s, where it was originally priced at $14. Now it ranges between $300 and $700. While insulin costs hundreds of dollars to buy at the pharmacy, it costs less than $2 to produce. In the last decade alone, manufacturers and PBMs have worked together in an insulin-pricing scheme to increase the price of insulin up to a thousand percent. According to AG Rutledge’s complaint, CVS Caremark, Express Scripts and OptumRx have collectively dominated the pricing system for insulin and boosted their cash flow during the pricing surge.
“Thousands of Arkansans rely on insulin every day to live their best life. These drug manufacturers and PBMs have inflated the price of insulin and other diabetes-related medication to line their own pockets,” said Rutledge during a Wednesday press conference. “They have endangered the lives of thousands of Arkansans and Americans, who simply cannot afford to buy this life-saving medicine. Today we begin the fight to stop this outrageous inflation of insulin pricing.”
Rutledge is suing the insulin and drug manufacturers and PBMs who created the insulin-pricing scheme for violations of the Arkansas Deceptive Trade Practices Act (ADTPA), unjust enrichment and civil conspiracy. The lawsuit is seeking injunctive relief, restitution, damages and civil penalties to address and stop the harm caused by their Insulin-Pricing Scheme.
READ ALSO: AG Rutledge Files Suit Against Family Dollar After Rodent Reports
