Eli Lilly is capping customers’ insulin costs at $35 per month
Eli Lilly & Co. is capping out-of-pocket costs for insulin at $35 a month following a public plea from President Joe Biden for lower prices of the diabetes treatment.
Lilly announced the cap Wednesday along with other actions, including cutting the list price for non-branded Insulin Lispro Injection to $25 a vial in May, while some Humalog and Humulin doses will be slashed 70% in the fourth quarter.
Newly launched Rezvoglar will sell at a 78% discount to a biosimilar version — Sanofi’s Lantus — starting in April, the company said.
The drugmaker is heeding Biden’s call just as it’s lobbying for a bill to allow obesity drugs to be covered by Medicare, including its popular Mounjaro diabetes treatment, which is under review for weight loss.
In his State of the Union address last month, Biden said he would seek to expand the Inflation Reduction Act’s $35 cap on insulin costs for seniors on Medicare to all patients. His administration has made lowering the cost of insulin a priority, but his proposal faces an uphill battle in a divided Congress.
“For far too long, American families have been crushed by drug costs many times higher than what people in other countries are charged for the same prescriptions,” Biden said Wednesday in a statement. “Insulin costs less than $10 to make, but Americans are sometimes forced to pay over $300 for it.”
Lilly’s move is “a big deal, and it’s time for other manufacturers to follow,” he said.
Lilly Chief Executive Officer David A. Ricks said in a statement: “While the current healthcare system provides access to insulin for most people with diabetes, it still does not provide affordable insulin for everyone and that needs to change. The aggressive price cuts we’re announcing today should make a real difference for Americans with diabetes.”
Asked if lowering insulin costs might help garner government favor for Lilly’s push to pass obesity legislation, Ricks told reporters that the only purpose for the insulin price cap is to relieve patients’ out-of-pocket costs.
Lowering costs of insulin won’t affect Lilly’s earnings as its outlook for this year already took into account the rebates, Ricks said.