Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt on Friday filed a lawsuit against leading national insulin manufacturers and pharmacy benefit managers (PBM) over alleged violations of the Kansas Consumer Protection Act (KCPA).

Schmidt is accusing them of operating an insulin pricing scheme that forces Kansans to pay excessive costs for the drug.

The lawsuit was filed in Shawnee County District Court and alleges that defendants maintained a pricing scheme that inflated the cost to produce insulin.

Named in the lawsuit are manufacturers Eli Lilly and Company, Sanofi-Aventis U.S. LLC, and Novo Nordisk Inc. The three companies account for 99% of the insulin currently on the U.S. market combined.

Also named were CVS Health Corporation, CVS Pharmacy, Inc., Caremark Rx, LLC, Caremark, LLC, CaremarkPCS Health, LLC, Evernorth Health, Inc., Express Scripts, Inc., Express Scripts Administrators, LLC, Medco Health Solutions, Inc., ESI Mail Pharmacy Service, Inc., Express Scripts Pharmacy, Inc., and OptumRx, Inc.

As alleged in the lawsuit, the insulin manufacturers gained access from the PBMs for their diabetic treatments, “artificially” and “willingly” raised their prices, and then secretly paid a significant portion of that price back to the PBMs. PBMs then granted national formulary status based upon the highest inflated price.

The lawsuit alleges that since 2003, these insulin manufacturers have worked in lockstep to raise the reported prices of insulin in an astounding manner. Insulin that costs manufacturers less than $5 to produce and that was originally priced at $20 when released, now ranges between $300 and $700 in Kansas.

Schmidt alleges that through the insulin pricing scheme the defendants have engaged in deceptive acts and practices as prohibited by the provisions of the KCPA. Finally, Schmidt alleges the insulin manufacturers and the PBMs conspired by failing to disclose the details of their pricing structures, agreements, and sales figures in order maintain the secrecy of their scheme.

A copy of the lawsuit is available at https://bit.ly/3VtxLKI.