US lawmakers call for DoJ and FTC probe into insulin pricing in the USA

5 November 2016

US Senator Bernie Sanders (Democrat, Vermont) and Representative Elijah Cummings (Democrat, Maryland) sent a letter last Thursday to the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission asking them to investigate potential collusion or anticompetitive behavior among pharmaceutical companies that manufacture diabetes products in setting their drug prices.

The news came hot on the heels of a Bloomberg reported US Department of Justice investigation of anti-trust activities in the generic drugs sector.

The prices of insulin medications, which are used by about 6 million Americans to treat diabetes, have skyrocketed in recent years, the lawmakers claimed. The cost of insulin more than tripled between 2002 and 2013, from $231 to $736 per year per patient.

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