Virginia accuses top drug companies of inflating insulin prices, deceiving consumers

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) -- Virginia is accusing some of the largest names in the prescription drug industry of artificially inflating the prices of insulin, a life-saving medication, over the course of several years.

Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares has filed a lawsuit against several companies that play a role in determining the prices hundreds of thousands of diabetic Virginians pay for insulin, according to a Dec. 19 press release from Virginia's Office of the Attorney General.

The companies named in the complaint include pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) Express Scripts, CVS Caremark and Optum Rx, as well as insulin manufacturers Sanofi-Aventis U.S., LLC and Novo Nordisk, Inc. -- all of which are "enmeshed in nearly every step of insulin pricing, production, coverage and dispensing in Virginia," per the release.

The lawsuit alleges that these companies are involved in "a years-long insulin pricing scheme that artificially inflated the price of life-saving diabetes medications and deceived consumers about those inflated prices."

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“Insulin is essential to life," Miyares said in the release. "For years, a group of powerful companies artificially drove up the cost of life-saving diabetes medication, enriching themselves while Virginians paid inflated prices just to survive. That system operated without transparency, deceived Virginians and put profits over patients for far too long. This office will defend consumers from these deceptive practices."

According to the release, PBMs are a part of the prescription drug supply chain and they "play a powerful role in determining how much Virginians pay for diabetes medications and which drugs they can access."

"Virginia alleges that this outsized control, paired with a rebate system that rewarded higher list prices, created a pipeline for profit at the expense of patients," Miyares' office said.

Insulin manufacturers are accused of "repeatedly" raising insulin prices even as the cost of making the drug declined.

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"Virginia alleges that as list prices rose, PBMs required larger payments in exchange for preferred formulary placement," the office said. "PBMs then allegedly used their position to keep prices up and competition down — all while deceiving Virginia consumers about why they were paying more."

You can find the full 147-page complaint here.