Texas filed a lawsuit against Eli Lilly over bribery allegations.
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Texas filed a lawsuit against Eli Lilly over bribery allegations.¹

The filing, which was announced on Tuesday afternoon, claims that Lilly used various practices to illegally induce medical providers in the state to prescribe Lilly’s products over its competitors. The complaint specifically calls out two programs that Lilly provided for HCPs.

Why is Texas suing Eli Lilly?

The first is a free nurses program, which saw the drug company provide nursing care for patients who received its medications. The second was a reimbursement support service. According to Texas State Attorney General Ken Paxton, these programs resulted in Lilly medications being prescribed for patients on Medicaid. He says that millions of dollars in claims were filed with the state’s Medicaid program that were “tainted by Eli Lilly’s illegal marketing and quid pro quo arrangements.”

In the lawsuit’s announcement, Paxton said, “Big Pharma compromised medical decision-making by engaging in an illegal kickback scheme,” said Attorney General Paxton. “Eli Lilly fraudulently sought to maximize profits at taxpayer expense and put corporate greed over people’s health. I will not stand by while corporations unlawfully manipulate our healthcare system to line their own pockets.”

Throughout the announcement, Paxton refers to Eli Lilly as “big pharma,” or similar terms.

Lilly has denied the allegations of bribery or any illegal activity. According to a report by The Dallas Morning News,² the drug manufacturer says that this latest lawsuit is the result of claims made by corporate relator Health Choice Alliance, who have previously attempted to file similar suits against the company. According to the news outlet, a representative for Lilly said that the company intends to defend itself against the most recent allegations and cited former rulings that say these claims lack factual and legal merit.

Paxton cited a 2024 lawsuit in his most recent complaint which saw the state of Texas sue multiple insulin manufacturers and PBMs over an alleged conspiracy to increase insulin prices.³ Eli Lilly is included in that suit, alongside Express Scripts and CVS Pharmacy.

When he announced the lawsuit in October, 2024, Paxton said, “This is a disturbing conspiracy by which pharmaceutical companies were intentionally and artificially inflating the price of insulin. Big Pharma insulin manufacturers and PBMs worked together to take advantage of diabetes patients and drive prices as high as they could. These companies acted illegally and unethically to enrich themselves, and we will hold them accountable.”

The announcement also included a quote from the complaint, which reads, “While the PBM Defendants represent that they perform their services on behalf of their clients (including Texas payors) and diabetics to lower drug prices, increase access to affordable drugs, and promote diabetic health, these representations are false. Rather, the PBM Defendants have worked in coordination with the Manufacturer Defendants to distort the market for diabetic treatments to their benefit at the expense of Texas diabetics and payors.”

This news comes on the heels of a disappointing update on Eli Lilly’s trial data for GLP-1 orforglipron. While the data showed that the drug was effective in promoting weigh-loss, the results weren’t as strong as industry analysts expected. As a result, Lilly’s main competitor in the GLP-1 space, Novo Nordisk, saw its stock rise by about 7%.

Lilly remains confident in the drug, however, and stated that it still has plans to submit it for regulatory review by the end of the year. The company also still remains confident in the planned global launch for the medication post-approval.

Sources

1. Attor­ney Gen­er­al Ken Pax­ton Sues Big Phar­ma Drug Man­u­fac­tur­er Eli Lil­ly for Brib­ing Providers to Pre­scribe Its Medications. Texas Attorney General. August 12, 2025. https://texasattorneygeneral.gov/news/releases/attorney-general-ken-paxton-sues-big-pharma-drug-manufacturer-eli-lilly-bribing-providers-prescribe
2. Texas sues Eli Lilly for allegedly bribing providers to push weight loss medications. The Dallas Morning News. August 12, 2025. https://www.dallasnews.com/business/health-care/2025/08/12/texas-sues-eli-lilly-for-allegedly-bribing-providers-to-push-weight-loss-medications/
3. Attor­ney Gen­er­al Ken Pax­ton Sues Big Phar­ma Drug Man­u­fac­tur­ers and Phar­ma­cy Ben­e­fit Man­agers for Con­spir­a­cy That Increased Insulin Prices by 1,000%. Texas Attorney General. October 3, 2024. Accessed August 13, 2025. https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/news/releases/attorney-general-ken-paxton-sues-big-pharma-drug-manufacturers-and-pharmacy-benefit-managers