By Brendan Pierson

(Reuters) – Arkansas’s Attorney General on Wednesday charged drugmakers and pharmacy benefit manager of conspiring to raise insulin prices. This is the latest lawsuit in a string of suits to target skyrocketing insulin cost.

In Arkansas, the lawsuit was filed in Pulaski county, Arkansas state court. It targets Eli Lilly (NYSE;) and Co., Novo Nordisk, (NYSE:) A/S. Sanofi (NASDAQ) SA together account for the overwhelming majority of insulin drug sales in the United States.

The report also lists the country’s top pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), including UnitedHealth Group Inc (NYSE 🙂 subsidiary Optum Inc and CVS Health Corp. (NYSE :)’s CVS Caremark. Cigna Corp Express Scripts is (NASDAQ:). The lists of drugs that are included in health insurance policies are maintained by PBMs. They also negotiate the prices for drug products with manufacturers.

Requests for comment were not answered by the defendants immediately.

The American Diabetes Association estimates that around 8.4 Million Americans have diabetes.

The prices of the most popular insulin products has risen in recent years. A 2021 Congressional Report states that Eli Lilly has increased the cost of Humalog by 1,219% since its launch, Novo Nordisk has increased the NovoLog price by 627%, and Sanofi raised Lantus’ price by 715%.

In Wednesday’s suit, Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge stated that rather than negotiate lower prices for patients, the PBMs have received generous rebates at the drugmakers to help them enrich themselves. This violates an Arkansas law prohibiting deceitful business practices.

Rutledge, speaking at a web-streamed press conference, stated that 50,000 Arkansans had diabetes and were without insurance. Many Arkansans have also been forced into insulin rationing because of high prices.

Similar suits have been filed by the State of Minnesota, City of Miami and various groups of drug purchasers.