Grabar Law Office and Hausfeld LLP today announced the filing of a major federal lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey on behalf of the City of Charlotte against pharmaceutical giants Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk, and Sanofi, along with the nation’s three largest pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs)—CVS Caremark, Express Scripts, and OptumRx. The complaint alleges a collusive, two-sided kickback scheme where manufacturers dramatically raised list prices for insulin in exchange for favorable formulary placement from PBMs, thereby inflating costs for employer health plans and other payors.
According to the complaint, the alleged “Insulin Pricing Scheme” has driven up the cost of life-saving diabetes medications by as much as 1,000% over the past two decades. These inflated prices led to excessive out-of-pocket costs for patients and dramatically increased expenditures for institutional self-insured health care purchasers like the City of Charlotte.
The lawsuit asserts violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act,
North Carolina Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, North Carolina Unfair and Deceptive Trade Practices Act, The North Carolina Antitrust Statute, Common Law Fraud, Unjust Enrichment, and Civil Conspiracy.
The City of Charlotte brings this action as a self-insured employer that paid for insulin under its employee health plan, which was directly affected by the inflated prices caused by the unlawful conduct alleged. The City of Charlotte aims not only to recover financial losses but also to address broader inequities in drug pricing practices that affect millions of Americans who rely on life-sustaining medications, such as insulin.
A copy of the filed Complaint can be viewed here:
To learn more, contact Joshua Grabar at jgrabar@grabarlaw.com or call us at 267-507-6085.
