Eli Lilly CEO Dave Ricks vowed Wednesday not to raise the prices of the company’s insulin products again — the only executive to do so a year ago Senate Health Committee hearing working to make the life-saving diabetes drug more affordable.
Senator Bernie Sanders, the committee chair, asked Ricks and the CEOs of Novo Nordisk And Sanofi to commit to “never again increasing the price of an insulin drug”. The three companies control over 90% of the global insulin market.
Ricks was the only executive who fully agreed with Sanders’ request — at least for Eli Lilly’s existing insulin products.
“We are maintaining our prices for the insulins on the market today,” Ricks told the Vermont Senator. “In fact, we cut them.”
Meanwhile, Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen, CEO of Novo Nordisk, said the Danish company has committed to limiting price increases to “single digits”.
Paul Hudson, CEO of Sanofi, responded that the company has a “responsible pricing policy.”
He noticed that too net prices because Sanofi’s insulin products are actually declining. Net price denotes the amount that insurers pay for an insulin drug after deducting discounts and rebates. It is usually lower than the price for which a product is offered.
All three companies have been under political pressure for years to make insulin more affordable for people with diabetes.
In March, they each announced that they would reduce the prices of their most commonly used insulin products.
Lilly announced that the price of the Lispro injection will be $25 per vial starting May 1, and the price of the Humalog and Humulin injections will be reduced by 70% starting in the fourth quarter. The company also announced that it would limit the cost of private insurance coverage to $35 per month for participating retail pharmacies.
Novo Nordisk announced that it will reduce the list price of its NovoLog insulin by 75% and the prices of Levemir and Novolin by 65% starting next year.
Sanofi said it plans to cut the price of its most popular insulin drug, Lantus, by 78% and the list price of its short-acting insulin, Apidra, by 70%.
At the hearing, Sanders called these actions “good news” and a result of public pressure.
But the senator said the committee plans to hold a hearing next year to make sure those price cuts “actually happen.”
“We just don’t want words. We want action,” Sanders said in his opening speech.
“We need to make sure price cuts are effective enough to ensure that every American with diabetes gets the insulin they need at an affordable price,” Sanders added.
According to this, about 37 million people in the USA suffer from diabetes Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Approximately 8.4 million diabetes Patients are dependent on insulin.
High prices have forced many Americans to do so ration of insulin or reduce drug use. A 2021 learn The Annals of Internal Medicine found that nearly one in five US adults either skipped, delayed, or used less insulin to save money.
The Inflation Reduction Act, the Democratic plan Biden signed into law last year, capped the monthly cost of insulin for Medicare beneficiaries to a $35 monthly prescription but offered no protection for diabetes patients who have private insurance.
According to the Department of Health, more than 2 million patients with diabetes who take insulin are privately insured. Another approximately 150,000 patients who take insulin are uninsured, according to HHS.
Last month, Sens. Jeanne Shaheen, DN.H., and Susan Collins, R-Maine, introduced bipartisan legislation that would mandate private health insurance Cap pricing to $35 per month for each type of insulin and each dosage form.
These insulin types include fast, short, medium, and long-acting insulins, as well as premixed insulins. Dosage forms include vials, pens, and inhalers.
