US Pharmacy Inflation Pricing Lawsuit!
Los Angeles, US, Sep 20 (EFE). –
The Federal Trade Commission announced Friday that it has filed a lawsuit against the three largest US pharmacy benefit managers, accusing them of inflating insulin prices and preventing patients from accessing the drug at low cost.
The lawsuit targets UnitedHealth Group’s Optum Rx, CVS Health’s Caremark, and Cigna’s Express Scripts (ESI), known as the “Big Three” because they collectively manage about 80% of the nation’s prescriptions.
Pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) are responsible for negotiating prices with drug manufacturers, paying pharmacies, and helping to decide which drugs are available and at what cost to patients.
PBMs are hired by employers and public health insurance programs, such as Medicare, the federal government’s insurance program for the elderly, to manage drug coverage.
The FTC alleges that the defendants created a “perverse system” that favors large rebates from drug manufacturers, resulting in artificially inflated list prices for insulin.
The complaint alleges that even when lower list price insulins were available that could have been more affordable for vulnerable patients, the three defendants systematically excluded them in favor of higher-priced insulin products.
These strategies have allowed PBMs and insurers to “line their pockets while certain patients are forced to pay higher out-of-pocket costs,” the complaint alleges.
“Caremark, ESI, and Optum — as medication gatekeepers — have extracted millions of dollars off the backs of patients who need life-saving medications,” said Rahul Rao, Assistant Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Competition.
The legal action seeks to end “exploitative conduct and marks an important step in fixing a broken system — a fix that could ripple beyond the insulin market and restore healthy competition to drive down drug prices for consumers,” Rao added.
High drug prices are one of the major issues voters have cited ahead of next November’s presidential election. EFE
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