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Pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly announced Wednesday that it’s reducing prices of its most commonly prescribed insulin products 70%. The company also announced that it’s capping out-of-pocket costs for its insulin products to $35 per month.
“Today represents another important step forward in ensuring affordable access to insulin,” Lilly CEO David Ricks said in a press conference Wednesday.
The company says that it will be cutting the list price of its most commonly prescribed insulin product, Humalog, by 70% as of the fourth quarter of 2023. Its product Rezvoglar, which is a biosimilar to Sanofi’s insulin product Lantus, will be launching April 1 at a price point 78% lower than Sanofi’s product. Lilly also said that it’s cutting prices of its nonbranded insulin to $25 a vial.
Lilly’s involvement with the manufacturing of insulin dates back over a century—it became the first company to mass-produce human insulin for the treatment of diabetes in the 1920s. Today, the company manufactures several different insulin products, for which it saw an over 10% revenue decline year-over-year in 2022, due to reductions in price in the U.S. and abroad.
In August 2022, Congress passed the Inflation Reduction Act, which capped out-of-pocket costs for insulin for patients covered by Medicare Part D to $35 a month effective January 1, 2023. Regular Medicare patients will see a $35-a-month price cap effective July 1, 2023.
As part of today’s announcement, Lilly said that it will automatically cap the out-of-pocket costs for its insulin products at $35 a month for those with commercial insurance. Patients without insurance can apply for the company’s Insulin Value Program, which also entitles them to a cap of $35 per month for the company’s insulin products.
In recent years, Lilly has seen a good deal of criticism over the pricing of its insulin products. In January, California Attorney General Rob Bonta filed a lawsuit against Lilly and other insulin manufacturers, alleging the companies used their market power to overcharge diabetes patients for insulin. Multiple other states have filed similar lawsuits. Lilly has denied the allegations.
The American Diabetes Association issued a statement praising Lilly’s price cuts. “We applaud Eli Lilly for taking the important step to limit cost-sharing for its insulin, and we encourage other insulin manufacturers to do the same,” the association’s CEO, Chuck Henderson, said.
“The aggressive price cuts we’re announcing today should make a real difference for Americans with diabetes,” Ricks said in a press release.
This piece has been updated since publication to reflect third-party comments and remarks at a press conference.
