Oklahoma Sues Big Pharma and Pharmacy Benefit Managers Over ‘Insulin Pricing Scheme’

Oklahoma’s attorney general has filed a lawsuit against major diabetic drug manufacturers and pharmacy benefit managers (PBM) for what he describes as “an unfair and deceptive” practices in insulin pricing. The petition, filed in Cleveland County District Court by Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond on May 14, accuses drug manufacturers of significantly and consistently raising the prices of their diabetes medications over the past 15 years, even though the costs of producing the much-needed drugs have decreased and the characteristics of the medications have remained unchanged. Mr. Drummond alleges that this insulin pricing scheme violates the Oklahoma Consumer Protection Act. “Insulins, which today cost Manufacturer Defendants less than $2 to produce and which were originally priced at $20 when released in the late 1990s, now range between $300 and $700,” Mr. Drummond argues in the lawsuit, adding that they have “increased the prices of their insulins up to 1,000 percent” in the last decade alone....