Friday 13 May 2022 09:47 PM Arkansas AG sues three big pharma companies for driving up the cost of insulin trends now
Three massive pharmaceutical companies are facing a lawsuit in Arkansas over allegations they helped drive up the cost of insulin in the state - just as discussions over potential insulin price caps heat up nationwide.
Leslie Rutledge, attorney general of the Razorback state, announced the lawsuit on Wednesday, targeting Eli Lilly, based in Indianapolis, Indiana, Novo Nordisk, a Danish company, and Sanofi, from France.
The price of insulin has famously soared in recent years, making the drug that many diabetics need to manage their condition daily the poster-child for the crisis of American drug pricing.
Reigning in the price of insulin has even developed into a rare issue with bipartisan support, with both Republicans - like Rutledge - and Democrats - like President Joe Biden and Senator Raphael Warnock - showing support.
Leslie Rutledge (pictured) is suing three major pharmaceutical companies for allegedly driving up the cost of insulin, her office announced this week
'Thousands of Arkansans rely on insulin every day to live their best life. These drug manufacturers and PBMs have inflated the price of insulin and other diabetes-related medication to line their own pockets,' Rutledge said in a statement.
'They have endangered the lives of thousands of Arkansans and Americans, who simply cannot afford to buy this life-saving medicine. Today we begin the fight to stop this outrageous inflation of insulin pricing.'
The AG's office reports that more than 400,000 people in Arkansas have been diagnosed with diabetes, with 800,000 being pre-diabetic.
It is also the leading cause of blindness, kidney failure and lower limb amputations in the state.
These types of disastrous effects often come as a result of a person not being able to manage their diabetes, which is often done via regular insulin usage to help regulate blood pressure.
Insulin is a lifeline for diabetics, and many are unable to live without it, requiring them to pay whatever the cost of the drug is, no matter how high.
Two insulins produced by Eli Lilly are among the drugs which have experienced the most price growth over the past ten years, according to a Nice Rx report
As a result, insulin has become the drug with the fastest growing price of any in America.
