A federal judge ruled that a Texas county can proceed with a lawsuit accusing several drug makers and pharmacy benefit managers of conspiring to fix prices for insulin, the first time these companies will have to collectively defend their role in the rising cost of the life-saving diabetes medicine.
In a lawsuit filed last year, Harris County officials claimed taxpayers were “fraudulently overcharged” for ongoing and drastic price hikes for a medication that has not substantively changed in many years. From 2013 to 2018, the county maintained it paid $27.5 million for insulin due to an allegedly misleading pricing scheme involving both drug companies and the biggest pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs.
About the Author Reprints
May one observe that while this approach may well be “a shot in the arm for consumers,” it has the potential to be a “shot in the head” for the industry and the PBMs.
Ah, well, you know what they say – “A friend will always shoot twice.”