Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner (D) on Monday announced he was suing some of the nation's largest pharmaceutical companies over the high costs of insulin.
“This is a story about profits over patients, this is a story about price fixing, and this is a story about what it is and what it means when a prosecutor takes an oath to seek justice,” Krasner said at a news conference.
Krasner's lawsuit alleges insulin manufacturers like Eli Lily and Novo Nordisk colluded with top pharmacies benefit managers, such as CVS Caremark, Express Scripts, and OptumRx, to keep insulin prices artificially high. The district attorney says he wants the companies to end the unfair pricing and pay monetary damages.
Philadelphia joins a nationwide effort to rein in high drug prices after Medicare last year established an insulin cap of $35 a month. The state of Indiana and the city of Baltimore filed similar lawsuits over insulin prices last week.
