PBMs' trade group slams FTC's insulin 'greed' lawsuit
The PBMs say out-of-pocket insulin costs have fallen sharply since 2019.
The Pharmaceutical Care Management Association, pharmacy benefit managers’ trade group, says the Federal Trade Commission’s attack on PBMs’ role in negotiating insulin prices is the result of a biased, anti-industry investigation.
The FTC announced Friday that it had filed an administrative complaint against CVS Health’s Caremark Rx, Cigna’s Express Scripts, UnitedHealth’s OptumRx and the PBMs’ group purchasing organization affiliates in connection with allegations that they had engaged in “anticompetitive and unfair rebating practices that have artificially inflated the list price of insulin drugs.”
Related: FTC sues three largest UnitedHealth, Cigna, and CVS over high insulin prices
Figures from IQVIA, a health care data company, show that the average out-of-pocket cost of a 30-day supply of insulin fell to $18.64 in 2023, from $25.79 in 2019, the PCMA said in a statement.
“The current insulin market is actually working,” according to the association.
Before 2023, the price of insulin was climbing because of ”Big Pharma’s anticompetitive tactics,” the association said
Last year, the association said, drug makers cut prices for some insulin products because of the attention insulin prices were getting from Congress.
The price cuts “underscore that drug companies can decide to lower prices at any time,” the association said.
One of the forces keeping insulin prices high is drug patent abuse, or efforts to keep insulin drugs covered by patents after the usual patent protection has expired, the association said.