Skyrocketing insulin costs have created a heavy burden on some patients, especially the uninsured and underinsured, with some even rationing the life-saving medication to help dampen the blow on their wallets, the Washington Post reports.
Citing data from IBM Watson Health, the Washington Post reports insulin prices have tripled in the past decade. Eli Lilly debuted its Humalog insulin therapy, a 10-milliliter vial posted a list price of $21. The same vial now costs $275.
“It’s a very big problem,” Joslin Diabetes Center CMO Robert Gabbay said. “It’s a tragic barrier to care.”
The three insulin giants, Eli Lilly, Sanofi and Novo Nordisk, have each posted significant increases on their insulin drugs. Sanofi’s Lantus cost $35 per vial when it debuted in 2001, but now costs $270; Novo Nordisk’s costs $289 as of July 2018, up from its $40 introduction in 2001.
