Insulin’s subject to price gouging in the USA, and it’s pretty cheap to manufacture. Why hasn’t anyone either started a new company to undercut other manufacturers, or just imported it from a foreign producer. I get there’d be some regulatory hurdles, but surely they can’t be that hard to overcome? Plus, it’s out of patent, isn’t it?
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some commonly used insulins are still under patent. making a biosimilar product would be likely unlawful in such a case
there are already many manufacturers of the insulins that have been off patent for a long time, and they’re pretty inexpensive. the problem is that they really suck compared to modern insulin analogues, and switching insulin products can be potentially lethal (or at least end you in a hospital) if done incorrectly/carelessly
as for the modern insulins that have recently gone off patent in the past few years, the startup costs for manufacturing and seeking approval of this kind of product are insanely large
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Because then some CEO wouldn’t get his fourth yacht. Have a heart, man!
They do. They just don’t sell in cheaply in the USA because there’s no need to. Insulin is free on the NHS in England, but even then, the actual cost of it is meant to be under $8, compared to about $100 in the USA.
Corporate greed is your answer the scientists that invented it wanted it to be cheap so everyone could benefit
You might want to go to India (or at least see about importing from India) for your insulin.
In India they have laws that mean their companies can completely break copyright laws for things such as medicines. Insulin would be one of them. So are AIDS medications.
Failing that you might want to move to the UK where Insulin and other drugs are either free or at most cost you £9.90. You can get medications for free if you qualify as well.
It’s just that the USA likes to price gouge for the sake of profit.
It’s a US problem more than anything. Old off patent insulin, Walmart sells for 25$/vial in my area. Newer insulins are more expensive, analogs.
You have to consider diabetes is huge in the US. Most of it is type 2, both largely preventable and/or treatable/reversible with lifestyle changes. Pharm companies are well aware of this. They know they can take advantage.
The US also invents a lot of the world’s medications and treatments, and it’s not cheap to do. Many modern meds cost a company half to a full billion dollars to get to market. The US population eats a lot of the cost.
I used to take care of a man who was a retired pharmacist who owned his own mom and pop pharmacy. He told me that insulin used to be a way to get people in the door, it was so cheap.
Insulin is cheap in many countries around the world.
If they do not sell it cheaper it is because they prefer to sell it at a gold price.
The free market is a lie.
There already is “cheap” insulin in the form of generic. Walmart for instance carries generic Novolog.
We are trying! California started the project to make cheap insulin legally and be a quality alternative… however I wish we invested more in it
Insulin is out of patent but it’s not super straightforward to manufacture it.
I have a friend who is a type 1 diabetic and an industrial engineer who is working on an Open Insulin project, the goal would be to have a freely available method for smaller manufacturers to manufacture insulin. They haven’t cracked it.
Didn’t Mark Cuban do this awhile ago?
Walmart has OTC insulin.
Because price gouging makes the manufacturer money. Affordability costs manufacturer money. You’re a fool of you think anything AT ALL is for the benefit of the people whose wallets get raped on the regular by these literal psychopaths.
Insulin by itself is not copyrighted – and hasn’t been since the inventor sold it for a buck to a public university. It is the delivery method (the injectors) that are patented and expensive.
So if you want the branded injector like EpiPen for example, or an autoinjector, you pay insane amount of money, especially in the USA.
If you want the generic vial of the liquid that you inject with a standard syringe – it is not cheap (but still more expensive in the USA than other countries).
Someone has – see https://www.costplusdrugs.com