Bucks County officials came together Friday to announce a lawsuit against major insulin manufacturers and pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) for an alleged price fixing scheme that has artificially inflated insulin prices by more than 1,000 percent over the past two decades.
The legal action, which filed by the county government and the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office, targets three major PBMs – CVS Caremark, Express Scripts, and OptumRx – which control over 80 percent of the market and manage pharmacy benefits for more than 270 million Americans.
“Manufacturers and middlemen have rigged America’s drug pricing system, making insulin incredibly expensive for families covered by our county health plan,” said Bucks County Solicitor Amy Fitzpatrick, who serves as the county’s chief civil legal officer.
The legal action also names insulin manufacturers Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk, and Sanofi, which control 95 percent of the global diabetes drug market.
County officials allege the manufacturers have engaged in lock-step price increases, often within days or hours of each other.
“This level of market concentration has eliminated meaningful competition and allowed these middlemen to demand ever-increasing rebates from manufacturers, driving up prices for a medication first discovered over 100 years ago,” Fitzpatrick explained.
The lawsuit points to the contrast between production costs and market prices. Insulin, which costs approximately $2 per vial to produce, is being marked up to between $300 and $700 with no justification in terms of research and development costs or manufacturing improvements.
County Commissioner Chairperson Bob Harvie, whose daughter has Type 1 diabetes, emphasizes the personal nature of this fight.
“This is personal for me. As the father of a Type 1 diabetic child who was diagnosed when she was 14, she is now a healthcare professional herself. But she remains and will always remain a Type 1 diabetic, reliant on insulin and dependent every day on that medication to keep her alive,” said Harvie, a Democrat.
Harvie noted the international price disparities for insulin as evidence of market manipulation.
“Insulin in the United States costs 5 times what it does in Chile, 6 times what it does in Mexico, 8 times what it does in Canada, 10 times what it does in Italy, the Netherlands or Ireland, 13 times what it does in Sweden or the UK, 18 times what it does in Poland,” he said.
The county, which is self-insured, said in its lawsuit that the artificially inflated prices directly impact taxpayers.
“When Bucks County is forced to pay artificially inflated prices for our employees’ insulin, that’s taxpayer money. Money that I would rather see go to affordable housing, first responders, or mental health treatment,” said Commissioner Diane Ellis-Marseglia, a Democrat.
District Attorney Jennifer Schorn, a Republican, joined the legal action under her authority to pursue violations of the Pennsylvania consumer protection law.
During a press conference at the Bucks County Administration Building on Friday, she shared the testimony from a mother whose son has Type 1 diabetes.
“Type 1 diabetes is 100 percent a fatal disease. And the only reason my son is alive today is because of one thing, and that’s insulin,” Schorn read. “As a mother, I will always worry. What if someday he cannot afford insulin? Sadly, many young adults are faced with this realization. And as a result of aging off of their parents’ insurance, they are forced to ration their insulin, resulting in dire consequences.”
The son’s said: “Insulin is as crucial to me to live as the air that you and I breathe.”
County officials noted that insulin is not a new drug, having been invented over 100 years ago by scientists who patented it for just $1 because they wanted it to be widely available to save lives.
“What we have seen over the past few decades especially, is corporate greed at its worst,” Harvie said. “Our residents and people across this country shouldn’t have to be forced to choose between affording diabetes medication and putting food on the table.”
The lawsuit seeks to recover taxpayer funds taken from the county health plan due to the alleged pricing conspiracy and to stop the companies from charging what officials call unreasonable prices for life-saving medication.
The legal action follows previous successful litigation by the county, including participation in the national opioid litigation that benefited Bucks County residents.
“Bucks County knows the impact of a lawsuit. When we filed our lawsuit against Big Pharma and other companies in the national opioid litigation, Bucks County’s residents benefited from it. And we don’t plan to stand down now,” Ellis-Marseglia said.
The county is represented by four firms serving as co-lead counsel – Baron and Budd; Levin Papantonio; Kozyak Tropin and Throckmorton; and Seeger Weiss – on a contingent basis, meaning they will not be paid if the lawsuit is unsuccessful.
The lawsuit has been in the works over several years, with Harvie crediting former county Solicitor Joe Khan, who is now running for district attorney as a Democrat, for starting the effort.
County officials said the lawsuit is part of a broader effort to use the power of their offices to fight for residents and protect them from unfairness and abuse, whether from polluters, petroleum manufacturers, social media companies, or pharmaceutical giants.
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