Arlington County’s lawsuit alleges that the defendant pharmaceutical manufacturers and pharmacy benefit managers engineered a scheme to inflate the price of insulin and other diabetes medications.

The nationally recognized law firm Baron & Budd represents Arlington County, Virginia in a newly filed case against pharmaceutical manufacturers and pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs). Arlington County is a self-insured government entity who provides private health insurance benefits to its employees. In the lawsuit, Arlington County alleges that the defendants inflated the price of insulin and other diabetes medications.

Although the cost to produce diabetes medication has decreased or remained relatively constant over the last 20 years, the cost of these medications has skyrocketed, far outpacing inflation. Government investigations have found that it costs drug manufacturers as little as $2 per vial to produce diabetes medications, but the cost for these medications ranges from $300 to $700.

Arlington County’s lawsuit alleges that the defendant pharmaceutical manufacturers worked in tandem with pharmacy benefit managers to increase the prices of their insulins up to 1,000%, while also suppressing competition. The lawsuit alleges that the defendants violated the unfair trade practices and consumer protection laws and seeks to recover damages incurred by Arlington County for its employee health plan due to the unnecessary increase in cost of certain drugs like insulin and other diabetes medications. It also seeks to prevent the defendants from continuing to engage in unlawful and deceptive practices.

“Millions of individuals across the country need affordable access to life-saving medications like insulin,” said Baron & Budd Shareholder, Mark Pifko. “We are committed to bringing transparency and accountability to the health care distribution chain and to providing some relief to the government entities that have shouldered the costs of the broken system.”

Baron & Budd currently represents several government entities who filed similar lawsuits alleging that pharmaceutical manufacturers and pharmacy benefit managers unjustly inflated the costs of diabetes medications and suppressed competition. States, local governments, unions, and private companies with self-funded employee health plans may have suffered similar harms with respect to the price of insulin and other diabetes medications. For more information, contact Baron & Budd at 800-222-2766.

About Baron & Budd, P.C.

Baron & Budd, P.C. is among the largest and most accomplished plaintiffs’ law firms in the country. With more than 40 years of experience, Baron & Budd has the expertise and resources to handle complex litigation throughout the United States. As a law firm that takes pride in remaining at the forefront of litigation, Baron & Budd has spearheaded many significant cases for hundreds of public entities and tens of thousands of individuals. Since the firm was founded in 1977, Baron & Budd has achieved substantial national acclaim for its work on cutting-edge litigation, trying hundreds of cases to verdict and settling tens of thousands of cases in areas of litigation as diverse and significant as dangerous and highly addictive pharmaceuticals, defective medical devices, asbestos and mesothelioma, wildfires, environmental contamination, fraudulent banking practices, e-cigarettes, motor vehicles, federal whistleblower cases, and other consumer fraud issues.

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