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.”
Lilly said in a statement that the plaintiffs’ claims lacked merit and that it would continue to defend itself. Lilly and the other companies still face lawsuits by several states, some of which objected to the settlement because it could interfere with their own litigation. The company in February settled with Minnesota, agreeing to cap prices and donate insulin to clinics in the state.
Plaintiffs in the cases allege that insulin manufacturers set artificially high list prices for their products, while paying rebates to pharmacy benefit managers in exchange for their covering the drug on behalf of health plans. Lilly said last March that it would slash insulin prices and make it available to many patients for $25 or $35, following pressure from the Biden administration, lawmakers and advocacy groups over skyrocketing costs.
A survey released last year by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., found that many patients nevertheless are still were being charged hundreds of dollars for treatments. Around 8.4 million of the 37 million people in the United States with diabetes use insulin, according to the American Diabetes Association.