Class Action suit accuses AbbVie of unfair pricing

NORTH CHICAGO - A class-action lawsuit filed this week in Chicago alleges the pharmaceutical company AbbVie Inc. fraudulently inflated the cost of the highest-grossing drug in the world, Humira, by 470% over the last two decades.

The lawsuit was filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois by attorneys at the law firms Hagens Berman and Carella Byrne Cecchi Brody Agnello. In a news release, the law firms say AbbVie engaged in a scheme to artificially inflate the cost of the autoimmune drug Humira to levels far out of step with manufacturing costs and in violation of consumer protection laws.

The suit alleges that AbbVie repeatedly raised the publicly listed price paid by consumers, while offering pharmacy benefit managers lower, undisclosed net prices for Humira, a drug often used to treat rheumatoid arthritis.

The lawsuit states that in 2020 alone, Humira generated $16 billion in U.S. net revenue for North Chicago-based AbbVie.