Starting January 1, 2021, Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY) will reduce the list price of Insulin Lispro Injection in the U.S. to match 2008 levels. The 40% price cut will also extend to the company’s non-branded insulins.
Still, the company acknowledged that people with fixed insurance co-pays or beneficiaries of Lilly’s affordability programs might not see direct savings for Insulin Lispro Injection.
In recent years, a number of politicians and physicians have complained about the high cost of insulin in the U.S.
For instance, Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) lamented earlier this year that insulin prices had “gone through the roof.” Several Democratic presidential candidates in 2020 also lambasted the high cost of insulin.
A 2020 article published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings reported that analog insulin costs 10 times more in the U.S. than in other developed nations.
Three companies, Lilly, Novo Nordisk and Sanofi-Aventis, control the bulk of the market.
The three Big Pharma firms have, however, sought to confront criticism through a series of initiatives. Novo Nordisk, for example, teamed up with Walmart earlier this year to offer private-brand analog insulin. In 2019, Sanofi announced an initiative to reduce insulin costs for some patients to $99 per month.
Lilly noted in a statement that it had enacted a series of affordability programs for insulin starting in 2017. “Today’s list price cut can further help people who are exposed within our healthcare system – the underinsured and uninsured,” said David A. Ricks, Lilly’s chairman and CEO, in a statement. “Half list-priced Insulin Lispro Injection has been adopted by a third of Humalog U-100 consumers. We hope this additional 40 percent cut can expand affordable insulin to more people with diabetes.”