Lilly’s price cuts: American families can’t afford to pay so much for Insulin – a statement from Lilly CEO David Ricks
Lilly will immediately cap monthly out-of-pocket costs for people who aren’t covered by Medicare at $35 per month if insurers and the pharmacy system do not implement its price cuts soon, according to a statement from Lilly CEO David Ricks.
American families have been crushed by drug prices much higher than what people in other countries have to pay. Americans are forced to pay more than $300 for Insulin even though it is inexpensive to make. It’s flat wrong,” Biden said in a statement on Wednesday.
Between 2002 and 2013 the average price ofinsulin nearly tripled. According to GoodRx research, the average retail price ofinsulin has gone up in the last few years.
More than 38 million people have diabetes in the US, a twofold increase from the past 20 years, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. More than 90 million Americans have prediabetes, a condition where sugar levels are higher than normal but not high enough for a diagnosis of type 2 diabetes. This can often lead to diabetes.
The body breaks down food and sugar when a person eats. This sugar enters the bloodstream, and that signals the pancreas to release insulin, which works like a key that allows the sugar to energize cells. But if diabetes keeps sugar in the bloodstream for too long, it can lead to serious problems like kidney disease, heart problems and blindness. The American Diabetes Association states that diabetes is the seventh leading cause of death in the US.
How FDA cut the cost of insulin and biosimilars for diabetic patients can help alleviate the affordability of the disease, Ricks tells CNN
The US Food and Drug Administration’s approvals of generic insulin and biosimilars – drugs similar to original versions that can be made differently or with slightly different substances – have driven down the price at least somewhat, according to GoodRx.
“We call on everyone to meet us at this point and take this issue away from a disease that’s stressful and difficult to manage already – to take away the affordability challenges,” Ricks told CNN’s Don Lemon.
The year before that, the companies worked with Walmart to sell private-label analog diabetes medication at a steep discount. Walmart said its ReliOn NovoLog vials and FlexPens save customers 58% to 75% off the cash price for branded insulin.
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.
“Ley can provide some substantial rice relief, if they decide to cut it,” said Stacie Dusetzina, who studies drug costs.
The federal government began applying that cap to patients in January who are 65 years of age or older and have certain disabilities or illnesses.
American Diabetes Association CEO Chuck Henderson said in a statement he applauded the steps Lilly was taking and called for other insulin makers to also cap patient costs.
Diabetes sufferers must take a daily dose ofinsulin every day. More than 8 million Americans use diabetes care.
How Eli Lilly and Co. Built Its Reputation Around Insulin, Insights from Research at the Universtas University of Toronto
Drugmakers may be seeing “the writing on the wall that high prices can’t persist forever,” said Larry Levitt, an executive vice president with the nonprofit Kaiser Family Foundation, which studies health care.
Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly and Co. became the first company to commercialize insulin in 1923, two years after University of Toronto scientists discovered it. Even though it branched into cancer treatments and other drugs, the drugmaker still built its reputation around production ofinsulin.
The revenue from Humalog and its authorized generic was more than $3 billion last year for Lilly. In the year before that, they rang up more than $3.5 billion.