Attorney General Jeff Landry wants reasonable cap on
prices of life-saving and life-supporting insulin.
BATON ROUGE, LA – Fighting to bring relief to Louisiana
patients struggling with diabetes, Attorney General Jeff Landry has filed a
lawsuit against drug manufacturers and the Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) who
have raised the prescription costs of insulin.
“So many of our neighbors struggling with diabetes require
insulin to control and treat their condition; as a result, these Louisiana
residents are reliant upon the companies that manufacture diabetes medications
in order to stay alive,” said Attorney General Landry. “Unfortunately,
manufacturers are either colluding with PBMs or being complicit in the
ridiculous prices that PBMs have imposed on patients. These schemes have
allowed the price to increase more than 1,000% – purely for their own financial
gain.”
At a press conference this morning (available to view here), Attorney General Landry explained how diabetes is an epidemic
and a public health crisis in Louisiana. According to the American Diabetes
Association, more than 505,000 Louisiana residents have been diagnosed with
diabetes. An additional 113,000 people are estimated to have undiagnosed
diabetes. And over 1.2 million people in our State have prediabetes, the
majority of whom will eventually become diabetic.
“If patients with diabetes ration their insulin – or do not
take the full amount prescribed – they can suffer heart damage, kidney
problems, blindness, or circulatory problems that could lead to the amputation
of arms and legs; some even die,” added Attorney General Landry. “Yet too many
of our neighbors, especially the poor and those in the middle class, have been
forced to ration their insulin – not because it is not available, but because
they cannot afford it.”
“With the manufacturers and PBMs focusing on profits over
patients, they act in perfect lockstep to raise prices at the expense of
Louisiana lives,” concluded Attorney General Landry. “I hope our litigation
will ensure a reasonable cap on insulin prices so that the people of Louisiana
can afford this life-saving and life-supporting drug.”
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The litigation, filed in the 19th Judicial District Court, is captioned State of Louisiana vs.
Sanofi-Aventis U.S. LLC; Novo Nordisk Inc.; CaremarkPCS Health, LLC; Express
Scripts Administrators, LLC d/b/a Express Scripts; CVS Health Corp; and
OptumRX, Inc.
