Pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly, one of the nation’s leading insulin makers, on Wednesday launched a program to cut high list prices for some insulin and limit out-of-pocket costs to $35 a month for those with commercial insurance. announced that it will be available immediately. The same goes for the uninsured.
The price cap is in line with what the federal government has set for Medicare, which came into effect this year through the Inflation Reduction Act.
Lilly’s announcement comes just two months after the government enacted the $35 cap, but it follows years of ferocious anger over skyrocketing insulin prices in the US, widely seen as price gouging. following.
A 2018 study of insulin list prices found that prices in the United States are often five to ten times higher than prices in other high-income countries. In 2018, the average price of a standardized insulin unit in the United States was $98.70, while the average price in other high-income countries was only $8.81. According to a 2018 study by BMJ Global Health, the cost of manufacturing insulin products is typically between $2 and $6 per vial, even for new insulin products. However, Lilly’s most commonly prescribed insulin product, Humalog U-100, currently has a list price of $274.70 for a single 10 mL vial.
Anger over insulin pricing became a flashpoint amid Twitter confusion late last year when an account pretending to be Lily tweeted, “I’m happy to announce that insulin is now free.” reached. The company apologized for the “misleading message” after it struggled to remove the viral but deceptive tweet. This prompted Twitter users to criticize the company’s pricing, with one simply saying, “apologize to the diabetic for the price increase.”
“Fatal Fury”
According to today’s announcement, Lilly may reduce the price tag of Humalog U-100 by up to 70% in the fourth quarter of this year, reducing the price of a 10 mL vial from $274.70 to approximately $82. Another product, called Humulin, will also be cut by 70% by the end of the year. The delay is to give the company time to negotiate with insurance companies and pharmacy benefit managers. In the meantime, Lilly will cut the price of Insulin Lispro U-100, the generic version of unbranded Humalog, from $82.41 for a 10 mL vial to $25 per vial, starting May 1st.
More than 37 million Americans have diabetes and 8.4 million are insulin dependent. According to a study published last year in the Annals of Internal Medicine, 1.3 million of them (more than her 15% of those using insulin) are rationing insulin because of its high cost.
With many people using insulin requiring multiple vials a month, the cost can easily run into the hundreds of dollars. That’s why we’re asking for monthly caps already in place for Medicare Part D recipients. In an announcement Wednesday, Lilly said people with commercial insurance can now set an automatic cap of $35 per month when insulin is purchased at participating retail pharmacies. Those without insurance can visit InsulinAffordability.com and download the Lilly Insulin Value Program savings card to receive insulin for $35 a month.
“The aggressive price reductions we’re announcing today should make a real difference for Americans with diabetes,” Lilly chairman and CEO David Ricks said in a statement today. , added that the company is “pushing to change the pricing of older insulin.”
Peter Maybarduk, head of Public Citizen’s Access to Medicines program, called Lilly’s announcement “expired” and a “perception that the price of insulin is fatally exorbitant”, calling it an affordable drug. Public advocacy and watchdog organizations that have fought other groups for insulin.
The announced plan “will provide some relief to many, but not all, patients and will also begin to alleviate the burden of high insulin prices on healthcare that everyone pays through taxes and premiums.” Maybarduk said.
However, “there is still a lot of work to be done. Novo Nordisk and Sanofi should cut prices soon,” he added.
