Lilly Plans To Cut Some Insulin Prices $44, Expand Cost Cap

Eli Lilly will reduce the price of some older insulins later this year and provide more patients with immediate access to a cap on the costs they pay to fill prescriptions.

The actions announced on Wednesday provide critical relief to some people with diabetes who can face annual costs of thousands of dollars for the insulin they require to live. Lilly’s changes come as lawmakers and patient advocates pressure drugmakers to address rising prices.

Lilly said it would reduce list prices for Humalog, its most commonly prescribed insulin, and Humulin, another insulin, by 70% or more in the fourth quarter, which begins in October.

List prices are what a drugmaker initially establishes for a product and what people without insurance or with high deductible plans are sometimes forced to pay.

According to a Lilly spokesperson, the current list price for a 10-mL vial of the fast-acting, mealtime insulin Humalog is $274.70. This will be reduced to $66.40.

Similarly, she stated that the same amount of Humulin is currently listed at $148.70. That will now be $44.61.

According to Lilly CEO David Ricks, the company is making these changes to address issues that affect the price patients ultimately pay for its insulins.

Lilly Humulin is currently listed at $148.70. That will now be $44.61

He noted that discounts Lilly offers from its list prices often only reach patients through insurers or pharmacy benefit managers. High-deductible coverage can result in large bills at the pharmacy counter, especially at the beginning of the year when deductibles renew.

“We know the current healthcare system in the United States has gaps,” he said. “This makes a difficult disease like diabetes even more difficult to manage.”

Patient advocates have long advocated for insulin price reductions to assist uninsured individuals unaffected by price caps tied to insurance coverage.

Lilly’s planned price cuts “could provide some substantial price relief,” according to Stacie Dusetzina, a Vanderbilt University health policy professor who studies drug costs.

She noted that the changes are unlikely to have a significant financial impact on Lilly because the insulins are older, and some are already competitive.

Lilly also announced on Wednesday that the price of its authorized generic version of Humalog would be reduced to $25 per vial beginning in May.

Lilly will also launch biosimilar insulin in April to compete with Sanofi’s Lantus.

Ricks stated that because insurers and the pharmacy system will take time to implement the price cuts, the drugmaker will immediately cap monthly out-of-pocket costs for people not covered by Medicare’s prescription drug program at $35.

According to the drugmaker, the cap applies to people with commercial insurance and at most retail pharmacies.

People without insurance, according to Lilly, can find savings cards for the same amount of insulin on its InsulinAffordability.com website.

In January, the federal government began applying that cap to patients with Medicare coverage, which is available to people 65 and older and those with certain disabilities or illnesses.

Last month, President Joe Biden mentioned the cost cap in his annual State of the Union address. He proposed capping insulin costs at $35 for everyone.

Lilly responded to Biden’s call, according to a statement released on Wednesday.

“It’s a big deal, and other manufacturers should follow,” Biden said.

He also stated that Americans have faced “far too long” and much higher drug costs than people in other countries.

Aside from Eli Lilly and the French pharmaceutical company Sanofi, Novo Nordisk is another insulin manufacturer.

Sanofi and Novo Nordisk representatives said their companies offer a variety of programs that help people with and without insurance save money.

The pancreas produces insulin, which the body uses to convert food into energy. Diabetes patients do not produce enough insulin.

To survive, people with Type 1 diabetes must take insulin every day. According to the American Diabetes Association, more than 8 million Americans use insulin.

According to research, insulin prices have more than tripled in the last two decades. Pharmaceutical companies are under increasing pressure to assist patients.

Lilly is trying to get ahead of the issue and appear to the public as the good guy,

California has stated that it intends to investigate the possibility of producing cheaper insulin. Drugmakers also may face competition from companies like the nonprofit Civica, which plans to produce three insulins at a recommended price of at most $30 a vial, a spokeswoman said.

Drugmakers may see “the writing on the wall that high prices can’t last forever,” according to Larry Levitt, executive vice president of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonprofit that studies health care.

“Lilly is trying to get ahead of the issue and appear to the public as the good guy,” Levitt said, adding that nothing prevents Lilly from raising prices again.

According to Lilly officials, they have not raised the prices of any of their insulins since 2017.

Lilly CEO Ricks stated that Wednesday’s changes were made “because it’s time and the right thing to do.”

In 1923, two years after University of Toronto scientists discovered insulin, Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly and Company became the first company to commercialize it. The drugmaker then built its reputation on insulin production, even as it expanded into cancer treatments, antipsychotics, and other medications.

Last year, Lilly earned more than $3 billion in revenue from Humulin, Humalog, and it’s authorized generic. The previous year, they made more than $3.5 billion.

“These are treatments that have a long and successful history and should be less expensive for patients,” Dusetzina said.

SOURCE – (AP)