Delaware has become the latest state to sue insulin manufacturers and pharmacy benefit managers for allegedly increasing insulin prices by as much as 1,000% over the past 15 years.
“The level of greed that would drive someone to price-gouge consumers over lifesaving diabetes medicine is almost unfathomable,” state Attorney General Kathy Jennings said in a statement. “It is an avarice that not only hurts diabetics across the country financially but in many cases leads to medication hoarding and preventable deaths. The thousands of Delawareans living with diabetes need to know that we will hold these companies accountable.
The nation’s three primary insulin manufacturers (Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk and Sanofi) and three largest PBMs (CVS Caremark, Express Script and OptumRx) are named in the lawsuit filed this week in Delaware's Court of Chancery. It alleges that these PBMs used their control of pricing, dispensing and reimbursement systems in the state to coordinate with manufacturers to illegally raise insulin prices at the expense of diabetes patients.
More than 110,000 Delaware residents live with diabetes and 130,000 have prediabetes, according to the state Department of Justice. It estimates that diabetes costs Delaware’s economy roughly $1.1 billion a year, and the uninsured have a diabetes prevalence rate that is nearly twice the state’s average, leaving them more susceptible to injury from an illegal pricing scheme.
Prices began climbing in 2003, according to the lawsuit. By 2016, the average monthly price of the four most popular types of insulin rose to $450, and specific insulins saw even greater increases. The price of one type of insulin sold by Eli Lilly increased from $165 in 1997 to $1,784 in 2023, the suit said, adding that high prices can force diabetics to make risky decisions.
“Costs continue to rise so much so that now 1 in 4 diabetics are skimping on or skipping lifesaving doses," it said. "This behavior is dangerous to a diabetic’s health and can lead to a variety of complications and even death."
The Delaware lawsuit follows similar legal actions in several other states. Mississippi was the first state to file a lawsuit. II’s 2021 case later was consolidated with other similar actions and is being litigated as part of ongoing multidistrict court proceedings. Indiana sued the same manufacturers in December, followed more recently by Oregon.
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