DENVER -- Colorado has joined 43 other states in a lawsuit alleging drug manufacturers defrauded Americans of billions of dollars.
It alleges 20 generic drug makers conspired together to fix the price of over 100 medications used to treat low-level infections, diabetes, HIV, asthma, cancer and much more. Claiming the conspiracy was well orchestrated and that executives of the drug companies tried to cover up their actions.
As a result, between 2013 and 2014 these companies raised drug prices by 448 percent. And in some cases the price of drugs like Fluconazole increase by over 1,000 percent.
“We’ve seen prices increase incrementally, but I think they have really started to reach that pain point where consumers are trying to stretch every dollar, and every pill that they take,” Adam Fox with the Colorado Consumer Health Initiative said.
Fox says 28 percent of Coloradans surveyed reported not filling a prescription or cutting it because of the cost.
Sue Way has been a Type 1 diabetic for 53 years. She noticed the price of insulin spike in December.
“Last December I paid $100 for three months supply In January the cost would have gone up $500 to $600 for three months,” Way said.
When she couldn’t afford insulin, she started cutting her recommended dose and ended up with a stomach ulcer.
She says hearing the details in the lawsuit makes her sick.
“Help! Something has to be done. People are dying because they can’t afford insulin,” she said.
Generic drug makers have denied all of the allegations in the lawsuit.