Eli Lilly and Company, a pharmaceutical company, announced on Wednesday that it will dramatically lower the sticker costs of some of its essential insulin medications that are required by diabetics and whose pricing Lilly has historically grown.
Lilly also announced it will cap what patients pay out of their own pockets for the company’s insulin at $35 per month, despite the fact that the corporation already has such a policy in place in an effort to quell complaints about exorbitant prescription prices.
Millions of Americans depend on an injectable from Eli Lilly to keep their blood sugar levels at levels that will keep them alive. Lilly has been a major factor in the rise in the price of this injection. The statement comes as political pressure on pharmaceutical companies to curtail what lawmakers and other opponents perceive as the sector’s pattern of unfair profiteering is intensifying.
For instance, Eli Lilly increased the list price of Humalog, its most popular insulin product, by more than 1,000% over the course of over three decades.
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Rising Insulin Costs
Many patients have had to ration their insulin supply as a result of the high prices of insulin made by Lilly and other pharmaceutical companies; out-of-pocket expenses for those with certain high-deductible insurance plans can exceed $1,000 per month, despite the fact that the majority of patients pay much less.
President Joe Biden criticized drug corporations for raising the cost of insulin in his State of the Union address last month. Big Pharma has been making record profits while unfairly charging individuals hundreds of dollars ($400 to $500 per month), he claimed.
While this is a major shift, Dr. Joshua Evans, Medical Director of Primary Care at Loyola Outpatient Center, hopes it becomes a common trend. Whatever the category, Evans added, “it’s an absolute problem when you consider your monthly’s, your expenses for rent, shelter, and food and on top of that the price for medication.”
Over 1.3 million adults in Illinois have the condition, which is more common in the Hispanic and African groups. The insulin price cut from Eli Lilly may soon alter the market.
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