In November, a verified — but fake — Eli Lilly and Co. account announced that the drugmaker’s insulin was free.
The real Eli Lilly quickly denied the phony tweet. In the aftermath, its stock dipped and Twitter paused its check mark program.
But now, Eli Lilly has made a real announcement that should offer diabetes patients some relief, per The Wall Street Journal. Eli Lilly will:
- Cap out-of-pocket insulin costs at $35/mo.
- Cut prices of insulin products, including top sellers Humalog and Humulin, by 70%
Insulin prices in the US…
… have skyrocketed since 2010.
They’re over 8x higher than in 32 other high-income nations, per a 2020 Rand Corp. study, and up to 50% higher even after factoring in rebates and discounts.
In 2022, Eli Lilly made $7B+ in revenue as 1.3m Americans rationed their insulin, which can be dangerous — even deadly.
So why now?
For one, pressure. The Inflation Reduction Act recently capped out-of-pocket insulin costs to $35/mo. for people on Medicare, and in his State of the Union, President Biden vowed to expand that cap to all Americans.
For two, competition. Just three companies — Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk, and Sanofi — have long dominated the global insulin market.
Now, newcomers are stepping up to make the lifesaving drug more affordable, including Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Co. and the state of California, where lawmakers have earmarked $100m to develop a generic product.
