Eli Lilly and Co. announced on Wednesday that prices for the company’s most commonly prescribed insulins will be reduced by up to 70 percent later this year, a move praised by President Joe Biden, who urged other drugmakers to follow.
In the fourth quarter of 2023—which starts in October—Lilly will also reduce the list price for Humalog, the drugmaker’s most commonly prescribed insulin, and for another insulin, called Humulin, by 70 percent, the company said.
List prices are what a drugmaker initially sets for a product and what people who have no insurance or plans with high deductibles are sometimes stuck paying.
Starting in April, Lilly will also launch a basal insulin that is biosimilar, and interchangeable, with Sanofi’s Lantus. The new drug, called Rezvoglar, will be a less expensive version and may be substituted by a pharmacist without consulting the physician if the state’s pharmacy laws permit.
Rezvoglar can be purchased for $92 per five-pack of KwikPens, a 78 percent discount to Lantus, Lilly said.
“While the current healthcare system provides access to insulin for most people with diabetes, it still does not provide affordable insulin for everyone and that needs to change,” said Lilly CEO David Ricks.
Ricks said that it will take time for insurers and the pharmacy system to implement the drugmaker’s new prices, so the company will automatically cap out-of-pocket insulin costs at $35 per month for patients who have private insurance and use participating pharmacies.
Last year, Biden signed a law, the Affordable Insulin Now Act, which is part of the Inflation Reduction Act, to limit the monthly cost of insulin to $35 for seniors.
“Today, Eli Lilly did that,” Biden said.
“For far too long, American families have been crushed by drug costs many times higher than what people in other countries are charged for the same prescriptions,” the president added. “Insulin costs less than $10 to make, but Americans are sometimes forced to pay over $300 for it. It’s flat wrong.”
Soaring Insulin Prices
Around 40 million Americans have diabetes, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and people with Type 1 diabetes must take insulin every day to survive.According to the American Diabetes Association, more than eight million Americans use insulin. Some people who can’t afford their medication ration their insulin, which can result in hospitalization or death.
In 2020, the average senior paid about $54 per month for insulin, and some paid as much as $116 per month, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.
Over 21 million Americans, which is more than half of the nation’s diabetics, are under the age of 65, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Last August, Senate Republicans blocked a provision that would have also capped the cost of insulin at $35 for Americans on private health insurance, expressing hope that future federal and state legislation could offer that benefit.
In 2019 and 2020, more than 50 percent of insulin users with health insurance offered by employers on average exceeded $35 in out-of-pocket costs for a 30-day insulin supply, the Health Care Cost Institute reported.
The nonprofit group that tracks drug prices also said that around 5 percent of those people paid more than $200.
