Oceanside Unified School District sues pharma giants over insulin prices

OCEANSIDE, Calif. (CNS) – The Oceanside Unified School District is suing a group of pharmaceutical companies and pharmacy benefit managers for allegedly inflating the price of insulin, causing the district to overpay for its employees’ health benefits.
The 200-plus page lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in New Jersey is one of several filed in recent years alleging pharmaceutical giants Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk and Sanofi conspired with the country’s largest pharmacy benefit managers — Express Scripts, CVS Caremark and Optum RX — to artificially drive up insulin costs.
Oceanside’s case joins scores of others, including those brought by several states that say ballooning insulin prices have caused them to overpay by hundreds of millions of dollars.
Frantz Law Group, which represents Oceanside Unified, alleges in its complaint that drug manufacturers and pharmacy benefit managers — or PBMs — have routinely engaged in a scheme to inflate costs to the detriment of consumers.
The alleged scheme involves PBMs placing certain drugs on its list of covered medications — what’s known as a formulary. In exchange, drug manufacturers allegedly provide PBMs with massive rebates and inflate drug prices in order to pay those rebates.
Frantz Law Group CEO James Frantz said an examination of school district financial records was underway to determine what losses the district incurred through the alleged overpricing. He also said his firm is speaking with several other school districts in San Diego County to see if they might join the litigation.
“Many people within the Oceanside Unified School District and across America rely on affordable insulin for their survival, and it’s unacceptable for pharmaceutical companies and pharmacy benefit managers to manipulate insulin prices for the sake of excessive corporate profits,” Frantz said in a statement.