The city of Baltimore is suing a handful of large pharmaceutical companies alleging that they conspired to inflate the price of insulin and therefore harmed the city and its citizens.

The lawsuit alleges that the increased prices make insurance more expensive and put a strain on emergency services and medical facilities because people were rationing their medications.

CVS Caremark, Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk are all defendants in a suit filed by the city.

“What the mayor is doing is saying we got to have some of that money back because we've been gouged and the people of Baltimore City need this redress,” said Vincent DeMarco, president of Maryland Healthcare for All!.

“Eli Lilly and these other drug corporations have been gouging local governments, state governments, insurers and average Americans for so long. The price of a vial of insulin went from 20 bucks to 300 bucks from 1999 to 2016. And in that time, it didn't cost them any more to make it. They were just gouging us for profits and high salaries of their executives.”

Baltimore joins a handful of other jurisdictions suing the companies, including Washington County.

In a statement to WYPR, Novo Nordisk said it “believes that the allegations in the lawsuit are without merit, and we intend to vigorously defend against the claims. While we will not comment further about pending litigation, we recognize that not all patient situations are the same and we have a number of different insulin affordability offerings available through NovoCare.”

The companies agreed to cap insulin at $35 starting this year.