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US: CVS accused of insulin price-fixing

By  |  March 21, 2017

The leading US drugmakers and pharmacy benefit managers colluded to fix prices for insulin, leading to skyrocketing costs and windfall profits for the companies, a new lawsuit alleges. Named are the country’s three largest pharmacy benefit managers—CVS Health, Express Scripts and OptumRx—which together control 80 percent of the PBM industry and manage benefits for 180 million people.

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    Some of the biggest players in the American health-care industry are targeted in the 69-count class action complaint, filed March 17 in a federal court in New Jersey. Drug manufacturers Sanofi-Aventis, Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly are included.

    “The skyrocketing cost of insulin cannot be explained away with typical drug company rationalizations for high costs,” the 300-plus page lawsuit reads. “Instead, the increased list prices are the result of a scheme and enterprise among the three dominant drug manufacturers of insulin … and the three largest Pharmacy Benefit Managers, CVS Health, Express Scripts, and OptumRx.”

    Full Content: Fierce Pharma

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