The City of Philadelphia has filed a lawsuit against a group of Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) and insulin manufacturers, alleging that the companies colluded to raise insulin prices. The city says this conduct has negatively affected its residents, including approximately 30,000 employees and their dependents who rely on the city’s healthcare plan for their medications.
The lawsuit targets CVS Caremark, Express Scripts, OptumRx, and insulin manufacturers Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk, and Sanofi, alleging they coordinated an insulin pricing scheme. The companies are accused of increasing list prices to secure preferred placement on drug formularies while sidelining lower-cost alternatives, despite insulin production costs being far lower than the prices charged, which can reach up to $700 per vial for patients.
Philadelphia filed the lawsuit amid rising prescription drug costs, affecting a city with one of the highest diabetes rates in the nation. In an official announcement, Mayor Cherelle L. Parker stated, “No one should have to worry whether they will have to go without life-saving medication due to high costs.” City Solicitor Renee Garcia noted that the companies “misled residents and siphoned from the pockets of the hardworking people of Philadelphia.”
The City of Philadelphia is seeking restitution, as well as punitive and compensatory damages, and a court order to stop the alleged insulin pricing scheme. The city aims to recover the inflated costs it has incurred and has joined more than 550 self-funded payers in the Insulin Pricing Litigation, a collective case in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey against the defendants’ pricing practices.
