FTC Sues CVS, Cigna, UnitedHealth Over 1,200% Insulin Price Hike Announced Friday

Sep 20, 2024, 05:03 PM

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has filed a lawsuit against the three largest pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) in the United States: CVS Health’s Caremark, Cigna’s Express Scripts, and UnitedHealth’s OptumRx. The FTC accuses these PBMs of engaging in illegal rebate programs that have artificially inflated the prices of insulin, causing patients to pay significantly more for this life-saving medication. The lawsuit claims that these practices have increased insulin prices by over 1,200 percent over the past two decades. The FTC also alleges that the PBMs steered diabetic patients towards higher-priced insulin products to reap millions of dollars in rebates from pharmaceutical companies. These three PBMs administer 80% of medication in the US. While the lawsuit does not name insulin drugmakers Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk, and Sanofi, the agency reserves the right to sue them later. This legal action, announced on Friday, is part of the FTC’s broader effort to address anticompetitive practices in the pharmaceutical industry and protect consumers from inflated drug prices.