Cvs Health Named In Insulin Price Fixing Investigations; Class Action Suits Also Pending
CVS Health Named in Insulin Price Fixing Investigations; Class Action Suits also Pending Home / FisherBroyles News , Health Care /CVS Health Named in Insulin Price Fixing Investigations; Class Action Suits also Pending CVS Health Named in Insulin Price Fixing Investigations; Class Action Suits also Pending October 2, 2017 – In a recent SEC filing, CVS Health (CVS) has disclosed just how embroiled its PBM division has become in a number of insulin price fixing investigations and lawsuits nationwide. Two putative class action suits have been filed against CVS, along with a number of other PBMs and drug manufacturers, in the U.S. District Court for New Jersey. Plaintiffs in both cases allege that the PBMs and manufacturers have engaged in a conspiracy in which the PBMs sell access to their formularies by demanding the highest rebates, which in turn causes increased list prices for insulin. The primary claims are antitrust claims, claims under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), and violations of state unfair competition and consumer protection laws. The CVS quarterly filing also discloses that CVS is under investigation by a number of states for insulin price fixing. In April 2017, CVS received a Civil Investigative Demand (CID) from the Attorney General of Washington, seeking documents and information regarding pricing and rebates for insulin products in connection with a pending investigation into unfair and deceptive acts or practice regarding insulin pricing. Washington’s Attorney General advised CVS that information received in response to its CID would be shared with the Attorneys General of California, Florida and Minnesota. In July 2017, CVS also received a CID from the Attorney General of Minnesota, seeking documents and information Continue reading >>
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Insulin Prices Spike By 1123%, Sending Parents To The Black Market To Keep Their Kids Alive
Gabriella Corley is a 9 year old with Type I diabetes who's allergic to the insulin covered by her low-income parents' healthcare; to live, she must take Sanofi's proprietary Apidra brand insulin, which has increased in price by 1,123% since 1996, and which is only covered to 25% by her insurer's Pharmacy Benefit Manager, CVS. Corely's insurer, pharmacy manager, and Sanofi all blame one another for the situation, but the reality is that Corley's parents simply can't afford to buy the drugs that would keep her alive, and none of the programs that are supposed to cover this situation -- like discounts for uninsured people -- apply to them. So they've turned to the black market, trading the insulin that Corely's insurer will buy with other diabetic people they meet on the internet, who are covered on plans that buy the kind of insulin Corely needs to not slip into a coma and die before her tenth birthday. Because the Corleys' insurance does cover some of the costs, they're not eligible for a reduced copay under company policy, said Diane Brown, Director of Communication for the West Virginia Department of Administration, on behalf of PEIA. But this little bit of insurance coverage, which doesn't put the drug within reach, is also hurting them in another way. Since they're not uninsured, the Corleys don't qualify for free insulin under Sanofi's patient assistance program. She's written everyone from her state's Senator, Joe Manchin, to the state insurance regulator, with no pricing relief in sight. NBC News contacted the drugmaker, insurer, and the pharmacy benefits manager or PBM, who is contracted to negotiate drug prices for the insurer. Each party defends its policies, didn't offer the Corleys any new solutions, and tried to shift focus to each other. The insurer point Continue reading >>
Generic Pricing Lawsuit Against Cvs Dropped; Walgreens Suit Stands
Generic Pricing Lawsuit Against CVS Dropped; Walgreens Suit Stands CVS Health executives are pleased that a lawsuit alleging collusion with PBMS on generic drug costs has been withdrawn. CVS Health executives are pleased that a class action lawsuit, which alleged that the pharmacy chain colluded with PBMS to drive up the cost of generic drugs, was recently withdrawn. The plaintiff in the Rhode Island suit , a CVS customer, said she paid more out-of-pocket for drugs when she used her health insurance than she would have if she had paid cash. She blamed the pricing disparity on CVS’s collusion with third parties such as PBMs. However, the lawsuit against CVS Health was voluntarily withdrawn a few weeks ago, Michael DeAngelis, Senior Director of corporate communications for CVS Health, told Drug Topics. “The complaint contained numerous demonstrably false assertions that a reasonable prefiling investigation by the law firm would have discovered. As such, we are pleased that the suit was voluntarily withdrawn,” DeAngelis said. The same plaintiff also filed a similar class action suit against Walgreens, also alleging PBM collusion on drug pricing. That legal action appears to be moving ahead. "Our case against Walgreens was not dismissed and will remain on file until we achieve a just outcome for consumers,” said Steve Berman, managing partner of Hagens Berman, the law firm that filed the suit. “The complaint lacks merit and we will vigorously defend against the allegations,” Jim Cohn, a spokesperson for Walgreens, told Drug Topics. For its part, CVS Health notified Hagens Berman that the complaint “contained numerous factual misstatements that, when corrected, make it clear that the plaintiff named in the suit was not overcharged for her prescriptions at Continue reading >>
Cvs Health Launches Reduced Rx Savings Program To Give Patients Access To More Affordable Medications
WOONSOCKET, R.I., March 16, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- CVS Health (NYSE: CVS) today announced the company will launch Reduced Rx , a prescription savings program that will offer discounts on certain medications through CVS Health's pharmacy benefits manager, CVS Caremark directly to patients. The program will help patients with high out of pocket costs afford essential medications. Novo Nordisk will participate in the prescription savings program. Through this program, CVS Health and Novo Nordisk will offer Novolin R , Novolin N and Novolin 70/30 human insulin at a cost of $25 per 10ml vial, which reflects a potential savings of as much as $100 for cash paying patients. The Reduced Rx launch follows another affordability announcement made earlier this year by CVS Health. Working with Impax Laboratories, CVS Health announced in January that it has made the authorized generic for Adrenaclick, an epinephrine auto-injector for patients with allergic reactions, available at all CVS Pharmacy locations at the lowest cash price in the market, $109.99 for a two-pack. CVS Health collaborated to create both the generic Adrenaclick offering and the Reduced Rx program in response to consumer need for low cost options. "We developed the Reduced Rx prescription savings program with Novo Nordisk because we both recognized a need and an opportunity to make critical medications more affordable for patients," said Jonathan Roberts, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, CVS Health. "This savings program will leverage CVS Caremark's expertise in providing lower cost prescription drugs and fulfill our company's purpose of helping people on their path to better health." "This program underscores how important collaboration is to addressing the affordability challenges patients face Continue reading >>
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Cvs, Novo Nordisk Launch Program For Affordable Insulin
CVS, Novo Nordisk Launch Program for Affordable Insulin The step comes after months of criticism about high insulin prices. CVS Health and Novo Nordisk have created a program to make older, human insulins available at $25 for a 10 ml vial, which could cut $100 off the cost for patients who pay cash. CVS and Novo Nordisk jointly announced the effort Thursday. The program is part of a broader effort by CVS Health to make certain critical medications with high out-of-pocket costs available to patients directly through CVS Caremark, its health benefits manager. CVS Health has also worked on a generic version of an epinephrine injector for patients with severe allergies. “We developed the Reduced Rx prescription savings program with Novo Nordisk because we both recognized a need and an opportunity to make critical medications more affordable for patients,” said Jonathan Roberts, executive vice president and chief operating officer, CVS Health, in a statement. The effort comes after months of criticism that the “Big Three” insulin makers—Novo Nordisk, Sanofi, and Eli Lilly—had priced newer analogue insulins beyond the reach of some patients with type 1 diabetes (T1D). Some T1D patients have voiced complaints that they rationed their supplies, strictly monitored food intake, or suffered episodes of diabetic ketoacidosis. A class action suit was filed against the 3 companies in January. Insulin prices have gone up as manufacturers have developed new advanced products with a longer window, so that if patients are delayed injecting the product, they will not suffer health effects. However, those advances have come at a cost, and international health groups have asked why older insulins could not be made available for patients with limited means. Novo Nordisk is using Continue reading >>
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Cvs, Novo Nordisk Partner To Make Insulin More Affordable
CVS, Novo Nordisk Partner to Make Insulin More Affordable Novo Nordisk just lowered the cost of some insulin brands. Will other Rx companies follow? To put it mildly, prescription drug prices are surging. Some of the most egregious examples of price-gouging fueled anger that help buoy U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders’ insurgent presidential campaign last year. Absurdities such as laws that prohibit Medicare and other healthcare programs from negotiating drug prices explain the constant increase in the cost of pharmaceuticals, though some analysts say the dynamics between industry, healthcare providers and government indicate that changing these policies change may not necessarily work. Other tactics, such as a more stringent enforcement of U.S. patent law, have been suggested in Congress. Even President Donald Trump called for action on skyrocketing drug costs – though his fractious relationship with Congress could get in the way of significant change at the policy level. But at a time when advertising revenues on television are stagnant or even declining, pharmaceutical companies continue to spend billions on commercials – and it’s fueling the rise in drug prices. Despite the drug companies’ insistence that they need to charge these prices to cover their research and development costs, Ana Swanson of the Washington Post argued two years ago that 9 out of 10 large pharmaceutical firms spent more on marketing than scientific research. Watch television during one of the few remaining soap operas or the networks’ evening news, and the evidence suggests those trends have not budged much. Nevertheless, public pressure and outrage could nudge more companies to become more conscious about their impact on public health, notably by changing how they market and price some Continue reading >>
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A Drug Company Just Struck A Deal To Discount The Price Of A Lifesaving Diabetes Medication To $25
Insulin prices have been rising — increases that mean some people are spending as much on monthly diabetes-related expenses as their mortgage payment. As a result, the companies that make insulin have been under fire from the public and politicians including US Senator Bernie Sanders. In response, one of those insulin-makers, Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk, said Thursday that it's partnered with CVS Caremark to provide $25 vials of insulin, roughly $100 less than the list price. The insulins that will be part of the deal for now are Novolin R, Novolin N and Novolin 70/30. These are human insulins, which scientists discovered in the 1970s. It uses recombinant DNA to manufacture real human insulin, so that it no longer had to come from animals. It's the precursor to a type of insulin called analogue, the most prescribed insulin at the moment. Analogue insulins are slight variations of human insulin that aim to help diabetics' bodies function more closely to how they would if they were able to produce the insulin themselves, and they tend to be more expensive than the human insulins. The $25 insulin prescription savings program is the first step as part of Novo's pledge to keep out of pocket costs low to consumers. In December 2016, Novo also said it will limit all future drug list price increases from the company to single digit percentages. "We’re committed to developing sustainable solutions with customers and will continue to pursue opportunities to ensure that patients have access to insulin that is affordable," Doug Langa, senior vice president and head of North America operations at Novo said in a news release. In December, Novo's rival, Lilly began offering more than 40% discounts off the list price of its insulins through an app called Blink Health Continue reading >>
Novo Nordisk And Cvs Partner To Offer $25 Insulin
CVS Health has launched their Reduced Rx Savings Program and Novo Nordisk is participating by helping make some of their insulin more affordable. This prescription savings program will give discounts on certain medications and is intended to help patients who have either a high deductible cost to deal with or those who don’t have insurance coverage. Novo Nordisk and CVS Health will be offering Novolin R, Novolin N, and Novolin 70/30 human insulin for $25 per 10ml vial. For cash paying patients this could save them as much as $100. Jonathan Roberts, the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at CVS Health said in a Novo Nordisk press release that “We developed the Reduced Rx prescription savings program with Novo Nordisk because we both recognized a need and an opportunity to make critical medications more affordable for patients,” and that “This savings program will leverage CVS Caremark’s expertise in providing lower cost prescription drugs and fulfill our company’s purpose of helping people on their path to better health.” Dough Langa, the senior vice president and head of North America Operations at Novo Nordisk said that “This program underscores how important collaboration is to addressing the affordability challenges patients face in certain health plans or who remain uninsured. We all have a role to play and that’s why we welcomed the chance to work with CVS Health on this program,” He added that, “We’re committed to developing sustainable solutions with customers and will continue to pursue opportunities to ensure that patients have access to insulin that is affordable.” This program lets patients buy medications at the reduced cost at any of the more than 67,000 pharmacies in the CVS Caremark retail network, including the Continue reading >>
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Are You Overpaying For Your Prescription Drugs? Our Investigation Shows Why You Need To Shop Around
You expect to find price differences when you shop for electronics or groceries, but on life saving drugs? We're not talking about what one person's insurance will pay versus another's, but the cash price being charged. The differences will not only shock you, they might make you sick. "I'll do what my mother did and die." Barbara Guzman knows that without her prescription drugs, her time is running out. Like her mom, who couldn't pay for her oxygen tanks, Barbara can't afford the seven hundred dollars it costs for her COPD, asthma and cholesterol medications. It's why she doesn't take them as prescribed. “I'm supposed to use it morning and night," she said. "I only use it in the morning. This one, I'm supposed to use morning and night. I only use it at night." What Barbara didn't know is she doesn't have to pay as much as she does. All she'd have to do is go to a different neighborhood. “It's really to the advantage of the healthcare delivery system, that patients don't know first of all what they should reasonably pay for healthcare,” said Bill Kampine of Healthcare Blue Book. Healthcare Blue Book is a website that helps consumers get the best prices--because they're in the dark. We found this out first hand after an exhaustive search, made harder when some pharmacies refused to give us prices over the phone. "Can you check on the price of a drug for me," I asked the pharmacist at one drug store. We picked 15 of the most commonly prescribed drugs on the market: Advair Diskus Bystolic Celebrex Crestor Flovent HFA 44mg Januvia 50 Lyrica 50 Namenda Spiriva Handihaler Symbicort Synthroid Tamiflu Ventolin HFA Viagra 50mg Zetia 10mg We then gathered prices from 5 popular chains: CVS, Giant Eagle, Rite Aid, Walgreens, and Walmart. We compared them for four different ne Continue reading >>
Pharmacy Benefit Managers And Insulin Makers Face Price Scheme Lawsuit (cvs, Esrx)
Pharmacy Benefit Managers and Insulin Makers Face Price Scheme Lawsuit (CVS, ESRX) By Shobhit Seth | March 22, 2017 — 9:42 AM EDT Three of the nation's leading pharmacy benefit managers (PBM) have been named in a lawsuit charging that they participated with major insulin manufacturers in a price fixing scheme. CVS Health Corp. ( CVS ), Express Scripts Holding Co. ( ESRX ), and UnitedHealth Group Inc’s ( UNH ) OptumRx unit were named in a federal court filing in New Jersey last week. The PBMs are alleged to have been part of a collusion scheme along with Eli Lilly & Co. ( LLY ), Novo Nordisk ( NVO ), and Sanofi AG ( SNY ). The three largest PBMs jointly account for 80% of the prescription drug industry in the U.S. and manage benefits for around 180 million individuals. (For more, see What Is the Pharmacy Benefit Management Industry? ) Four individual plaintiffs were joined by a nonprofit organization called the Type 1 Diabetes Defense Foundation is the suit. In January, the three insulin makers were named as defendants in a separate federal court filing in Massachusetts, alleging that the companies significantly increased list prices of lifesaving insulin, raising them in lockstep and harming patients’ interests. The cases come amid growing outcry over the nation’s opaque drug-pricing system which is seen as benefiting both drug manufacturers as well as intermediaries. Along with the accusations that the drug makers colluded to increase the drug prices in a planned manner, which resulted in price increases of more than 150%, the plaintiffs also allege that the drug makers shared additional revenues with PBMs through rebates. (For more, see Supply Chain: The Big Leak Fueling High Drug Prices .) Earlier in November, Senator Bernie Sanders requested Continue reading >>
Fiercepharma: Price Scheme Lawsuit Targets Cvs, Express Scripts As Well As Novo, Lilly, Sanofi
Another legal salvo has been fired against top insulin makers, accusing them of colluding on prices, but this class action suit also targets pharmacy benefit managers CVS, Express Scripts and UnitedHealth’s OptumRx, claiming they were part of the alleged scheme. The lawsuit was filed in federal court in New Jersey last week, and four individual plaintiffs were joined by the Type 1 Diabetes Defense Foundation, a nonprofit group that supports patients with Type 1 diabetes. The suit alleges violations of ERISA, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act. Continue reading >>
Price 'scheme' Lawsuit Targets Cvs, Express Scripts As Well As Novo, Lilly, Sanofi
Price 'scheme' lawsuit targets CVS, Express Scripts as well as Novo, Lilly, Sanofi Four individual plaintiffs were joined by the Type 1 Diabetes Defense Foundation, a nonprofit group that supports patients with Type 1 diabetes, in a suit alleging violations of ERISA, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act. Another legal salvo has been fired against top insulin makers, accusing them of colluding on prices, but this class action suit also targets pharmacy benefit managers CVS, Express Scripts and UnitedHealth’s OptumRx, claiming they were part of the alleged scheme. The lawsuit was filed in federal court in New Jersey last week, and four individual plaintiffs were joined by the Type 1 Diabetes Defense Foundation, a nonprofit group that supports patients with Type 1 diabetes. The suit alleges violations of ERISA, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act. The suit alleges the drugmakers significantly ratcheted up their list prices on their insulins, raising them in lockstep with one another, then shared the additional revenues with the PBMs through rebates. Like this story? Subscribe to FiercePharma! Biopharma is a fast-growing world where big ideas come along daily. Our subscribers rely on FiercePharma as their must-read source for the latest news, analysis and data on drugs and the companies that make them. Sign up today to get pharma news and updates delivered to your inbox and read on the go. Continue reading >>
Cvs Health Launches Reduced Rx™ Savings Program To Give Patients Access To More Affordable Medications
WOONSOCKET, R.I., March 16, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- CVS Health (NYSE: CVS) today announced the company will launch Reduced Rx™, a prescription savings program that will offer discounts on certain medications – through CVS Health's pharmacy benefits manager, CVS Caremark – directly to patients. The program will help patients with high out of pocket costs afford essential medications. Novo Nordisk will participate in the prescription savings program. Through this program, CVS Health and Novo Nordisk will offer Novolin R®, Novolin N® and Novolin 70/30® human insulin at a cost of $25 per 10ml vial, which reflects a potential savings of as much as $100 for cash paying patients. The Reduced Rx launch follows another affordability announcement made earlier this year by CVS Health. Working with Impax Laboratories, CVS Health announced in January that it has made the authorized generic for Adrenaclick, an epinephrine auto-injector for patients with allergic reactions, available at all CVS Pharmacy locations at the lowest cash price in the market, $109.99 for a two-pack. CVS Health collaborated to create both the generic Adrenaclick offering and the Reduced Rx program in response to consumer need for low cost options. "We developed the Reduced Rx prescription savings program with Novo Nordisk because we both recognized a need and an opportunity to make critical medications more affordable for patients," said Jonathan Roberts, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, CVS Health. "This savings program will leverage CVS Caremark's expertise in providing lower cost prescription drugs and fulfill our company's purpose of helping people on their path to better health." "This program underscores how important collaboration is to addressing the affordability challenges Continue reading >>
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States Investigate Pharma Companies, Cvs Health As Diabetes Drug Prices Reach Record Highs
Post a comment / Oct 30, 2017 at 6:44 AM A patient loads insulin for his routine shot. With the price of a crucial diabetes drug skyrocketing, at least five states and a federal prosecutor are demanding information from insulin manufacturers and the pharmaceutical industry’s financial middlemen, seeking answers about their business relationships and the soaring price of diabetes drugs. Attorneys general in Washington, Minnesota and New Mexico issued civil investigative demands this year and are sharing information with Florida and California, according to various corporate financial filings. Insulin makers Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk, Sanofi and top pharmacy benefit manager CVS Health are targets in the state investigations. Several of the financial filings note that the state and federal prosecutors want information regarding specific insulins for specific dates in relation to “trade practices.” They appear to be looking into potentially anti-competitive business dealings that critics have leveled at this more than $20 billion niche market of the pharmaceutical industry, according to analysts and court filings reviewed by Kaiser Health News. These include whether drugmakers and middlemen in the supply chain have allowed prices to escalate in order to increase their profits. At the same time, prominent class-action lawyers are bringing suits on behalf of patients. Steve Berman, an attorney best known for winning a multibillion-dollar settlement from the tobacco industry, alleged collusion and said it was time to break up the “insulin racket.” The price of insulin — a lifesaving drug — has reached record highs as Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk and Sanofi raised prices more than 240 percent over the past decade to often over $300 a vial today, with price rises Continue reading >>
Under Pricing Pressure, Insulin Maker Joins Cvs Reduced Rx Savings Program
Under pricing pressure, insulin maker joins CVS Reduced Rx savings program Facing pressure from lawmakers about the prices of their drugs, some pharmaceutical companies are looking for ways to make their products more affordable and more accessible. Novo Nordisk (NYSE: NVO ) said yesterday that it is teaming up with CVS Health ‘s (NYSE: CVS ) new prescription savings program, Reduced Rx, to offer discounts on its insulin. The company’s insulin will be sold for $25 per 10 milliliter vial, which Nordisk said reflects a savings of as much as $100 for patients that pay with cash. “We developed the Reduced Rx prescription savings program with Novo Nordisk because we both recognized a need and an opportunity to make critical medications more affordable for patients,” CVS Health’s exec VP & chief operating officer Jonathan Roberts said in prepared remarks. “This savings program will leverage CVS Caremark’s expertise in providing lower cost prescription drugs and fulfill our company’s purpose of helping people on their path to better health.” Following its initial dealings with Nordisk, CVS Health said it plans to extend the prescription savings program to other medications. “This program underscores how important collaboration is to addressing the affordability challenges patients face in certain health plans or who remain uninsured. We all have a role to play and that’s why we welcomed the chance to work with CVS Health on this program,” Nordisk’s senior VP & head of U.S. operations Doug Langa added. “We’re committed to developing sustainable solutions with customers and will continue to pursue opportunities to ensure that patients have access to insulin that is affordable.” The companies clarified that the under the program, patients can Continue reading >>
