The defendants are drugmakers Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk and Sanofi-Aventis; PBM Evernorth Health; Express Scripts and its subsidiaries Medco Health Solutions and Esi Mail Pharmacy Services; CVS Health and CVS Caremark; and UnitedHealth Group and its businesses Optum, OptumRx and OptumInsight.
The city filed the suit July 24.
“Diabetics need insulin to stay alive,” Cleveland officials said in a news release. “The defendants exploit this reality to guarantee their price-fixing scheme, making insulin unaffordable to individuals and resulting in exorbitant costs for prescription benefit sponsors like the city of Cleveland.”
A CVS spokesperson called the case “baseless” and an Eli Lilly spokesperson said it was “meritless.” Evernorth did not respond to Becker’s request for comment.
