Until this year, Americans with diabetes have been impacted—some horribly—by a steep rise in the cost of insulin as the price tripled between 2002 and 2013, and kept rising more than inflation.
Now, since the US Congress and Biden White House passed the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, three pharmaceutical companies that control almost the entire insulin market, Novo Nordisk, Eli Lilly, and Sanofi, have all lowered the cost of their name-brand exogenous insulin products—feeling the pressure after the reform bill capped monthly insulin costs at $35 for all Medicare patients.
Insulin is essential for millions of people with diabetes, and there are no alternatives—yet it’s an old drug that has seen incremental innovations since it became widely available decades ago.
Another bill passed, the 2021 American Rescue Plan Act, included a regulation that forced big pharma companies to provide rebates to state Medicaid programs if the cost of their drug rose faster than the price of inflation.
SIMILAR NEWS: US Sets Policy to Seize Patents of Government-Funded Drugs if Price Deemed Too High
Most of the drugs identified thus far are cancer drugs, but there are others that fight debilitating infections like meningitis and cytomegalovirus.
(Learn more about the different insulin situations at CNN.)
SHARE This Big Savings With Any Diabetics You Know…