Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier filed a lawsuit against Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk, Sanofi and three pharmacy benefit managers, accusing them of participating in a pricing scheme that drove up insulin costs.
The complaint, filed in Miami-Dade County Circuit Court, alleges the drugmakers inflated published list prices for insulin and related diabetes drugs and paid rebates and fees to CVS Caremark, Express Scripts and OptumRx in exchange for preferred formulary placement, according to a Sept. 22 news release from the attorney general’s office. Rebate aggregators Zinc, Ascent and Emisar were also named in the lawsuit.
The lawsuit also covers GLP-1 and combination products, including Ozempic, Trulicity, Victoza and Soliqua.
The complaint brings two counts under the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act and one count under the Florida Antitrust Act. The attorney general is seeking a permanent injunction, restitution, disgorgement, damages, civil penalties and other relief.
Florida joins other states that have filed lawsuits this year over insulin pricing, including Missouri, Delaware and Indiana. Jefferson Health and Texas Health Resources have also filed lawsuits over insulin pricing on behalf of their health plans.
