An unfavorable ruling by a judge has scuttled an agreement in which Eli Lilly would have capped insulin prices and paid $13.5 million to resolve claims that it had inflated the drug's cost.

Lawyers for a proposed nationwide class of individuals, who paid for Lilly's Humalog injection and other insulin drugs, said in a filing in Newark, N.J. federal court that they and Lilly had decided not to go forward seeking approval for the deal.

One lawyer, Steve Berman, told Reuters that the decision to drop the deal came after U.S. District Judge Brian Martinotti in February refused to certify a class in the litigation, which also targets insulin drug makers Novo Nordisk and Sanofi. The plaintiffs since have filed an amended version of their complaint, again seeking to proceed as a class action. Berman called the demise of the settlement, which would have capped patients' out-of-pocket insulin costs at $35 per month for four years, a "potentially big loss for consumers."