'Medication gatekeepers' sued by FTC over skyrocketing insulin prices

The Federal Trade Commission sued the country’s three largest pharmacy benefit managers on Friday, accusing them of steering diabetes patients towards higher priced insulin in order to reap millions of dollars in rebates from pharmaceutical companies.The case accuses UnitedHealth Group’s Optum unit, CVS Health’s CVS Caremark and Cigna’s Express Scripts of unfairly excluding lower cost insulin products from lists of drugs covered by insurers.Driving down drug prices has been a key goal for the Joe Biden administration, and Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, has emphasized her work for patients, and in particular on lowering insulin prices, on the campaign trial.The conduct hurt patients, such as those with coinsurance and deductibles, who were not eligible for the rebated price, the FTC said.The three companies together administer 80% of all prescriptions in the US, according to the case, which was filed in the FTC’s in-house court.CVS spokesman David Whitrap said in an emailed statement that the company has worked to make insulin more affordable for Americans and described the FTC as being “simply wrong.

“We stand by our record of protecting American businesses, unions, and patients from rising prescription drug prices,” he said.Cigna Chief Legal Officer Andrea Nelson said that the FTC was interested in scoring political points.If the FTC were to succeed in forcing it and others to include drugs that have higher total net costs for health plans, “the FTC will drive drug prices higher in this country,” Nelson said.Optum Rx spokesperson Elizabeth Hoff called the action baseless and said that through negotiations and additional actions, the company has lowered insulin costs for its health plan customers and members to an average of less than $18 per month for insulin.CVS shares fell 1.6% in midday trading, while UnitedHealth and Cigna shares were down marginally.The suit also named Zinc Health Services, Ascent Hea...