Eli Lilly on Wednesday announced it will cut the price of its most commonly prescribed insulin by 70% and cap insulin out-of-pocket costs at $35 a month, potentially increasing access for the millions of Americans who rely on the drug.

Eli Lilly announces price reductions for insulin

According to a press release, Eli Lilly will cut the price of Humalog, its most commonly prescribed insulin, and Humulin by 70% effective in Q4 of this year. The company said it will also cut the price of its non-branded insulin, Insulin Lispro Injection, to $25 a vial, effective May 1.

Eli Lilly also said it is launching Rezvoglar, a basal insulin that is a biosimilar to and is interchangeable with Lantus injections. Rezvoglar will cost $92 for a five pack of KwikPens, marking a 78% discount to Lantus injections, effective April 1.

In addition, the company announced it intends to automatically cap out-of-pocket costs for insulin at $35 for people with commercial insurance. People without insurance can download the company's Lilly Insulin Value Program savings card to receive insulin for $35 per month.

"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," said David Ricks, Eli Lilly's chair and CEO. "The aggressive price cuts we're announcing today should make a real difference for Americans with diabetes. Because these price cuts will take time for the insurance and pharmacy system to implement, we are 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 Part D cap."

Reaction

According to the American Diabetes Association (ADA), around 8.4 million people in the United States with diabetes rely on insulin, with three drugmakers — Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk, and Sanofi — dominating the market for the drug.

In recent years, drugmakers have been facing growing political pressure to address the cost of insulin. In 2021, the Senate Finance Committee announced an investigation of insulin prices, and the Inflation Reduction Act, which was passed last year, capped insulin prices at $35 a month for people enrolled in Medicare.

In addition to political pressures, Larry Levitt, EVP for health policy at KFF, said Eli Lilly also faced threats of competition from outside the industry. For example, Civica Rx last year said it intends to sell generic versions of insulin for no more than $30 a vial. Meanwhile, California said it intends to make low-cost insulin, as does Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Co.

"Eli Lilly definitely sees the writing on the wall," Levitt said.

Stacie Dusetzina, a health policy professor at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, agreed that increased competition likely led Eli Lilly to reduce insulin prices.

"The company is reacting to a tremendous amount of existing and upcoming competition for these drugs," she said.

Lisa Murdock, chief advocacy officer for the ADA, said cutting out-of-pocket costs for insulin is an important step. "We can only hope that other major manufacturers of insulin follow suit," she said.

The uninsured and those with "skimpy" health coverage who depend on insulin will be most affected by this change, according to Antonio Ciaccia, CEO of 46brooklyn Research, a nonprofit that researches drug pricing.

"Any patient that's been stuck paying full out of pocket, this is essentially prohibiting that game from continuing," he said. "That's significant since we know so many patients have struggled with affordability." (Eli Lilly release, 3/1; Lovelace, NBC News, 3/1; Alltucker, USA Today, 3/1; Picchi, CBS News, 3/1)