In the U.S. “free market,” a vial of insulin that costs about $6 to manufacture is sold to patients and insurance companies for $275 a vial.
As a result, U.S. drug companies and middlemen have made massive profits on insulin, a drug used for diabetes since the 1920s. By 2017, the annual cost of diabetes to the U.S. economy was $327 billion in both health care and lost productivity.
After decades of pocketing a tidy profit on a drug that’s been around for 100 years, I hope Eli Lilly isn’t looking for a pat on the back for deciding to finally cap the price of insulin. No, indeed, it’s just wise enough to end the money-grab a step ahead of the growing recognition that this sort of corporate greed is costing the rest of us an extremely high price, and – in many cases – our lives.
Steve Kelley
Kennebunk
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