Eli Lilly said it's cutting prices on its most prescribed insulin by 70% and expanding a program to cap out-of-pocket costs for the medication at $35 per month at participating pharmacies, a move that could make it more accessible to Americans with diabetes.
The list price for non-branded Insulin Lispro Injection will be cut 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 its so-called biosimilar — Sanofi's Lantus — starting in April, the company said in a statement Wednesday.
Lilly's announcement comes after U.S. President Joe Biden pledged during his State of the Union address to seek an expansion of the Inflation Reduction Act's $35 cap on insulin costs for seniors on Medicare to all Americans. The Biden administration has made lowering the cost of insulin a priority, but his proposal faces an uphill battle in a divided Congress.
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"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," Lilly's Chief Executive Officer David A. Ricks said in the statement. "The aggressive price cuts we're announcing today should make a real difference for Americans with diabetes."
Ricks also said that as the price cuts would take time for the insurance and pharmacy system to implement, the company is "taking the additional step to immediately cap out-of-pocket costs for patients who use Lilly insulin and are not covered by the recent Medicare" cap.
