Florida AG sues insulin makers, pharmacy benefit manager over high prices

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier has filed a lawsuit against three of the world’s largest insulin manufacturers, three major pharmacy benefit managers and several rebate aggregators, alleging a coordinated scheme to inflate insulin prices at the expense of patients who cannot live without the drug.The complaint names insulin manufacturers Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk and Sanofi — which together supply more than 90 percent of the world’s insulin — along with pharmacy benefit managers CVS Caremark, Express Scripts and OptumRx, which collectively process roughly 80 percent of U.S. prescriptions. Also named are rebate aggregators Zinc, Ascent and Emisar.“These companies told Florida families they were working to make insulin affordable,” Uthmeier said. “Instead, they inflated the sticker price of a medicine people cannot live without and left Florida patients to pay it. My office is holding them accountable.”How the alleged scheme workedAccording to the complaint, manufacturers inflated