Drugmaker Eli Lily slashes prices, will offer $35 insulin in U.S. pharmacies

In addition to slashing some drug prices by 70 per cent, Eli Lilly also promised to expand an existing program that caps some insulin products at $50.

Eli Lilly and Co., one of the largest drug manufacturers in the world, announced Wednesday that it will cut prices for some of its most commonly prescribed insulin products — a move that could potentially provide instant relief to millions of Americans struggling to buy the life-saving diabetes medication.

List prices for the drugs Humalog and Humulin will drop 70 per cent during the year’s fourth quarter, which starts in October. The Indianapolis-based drugmaker is also promising to offer a low-cost insulin injection for just US$25 ($35) a vial and will expand its existing US$35 ($50) cap on some insulin products to 85 per cent of U.S. pharmacies.

The move comes after U.S. President Joe Biden pushed for a universal US$35 cap on out-of-pocket insulin costs during the annual State of the Union address last month.

“While we could wait for Congress to act or the health-care system in general to apply that standard, we’re just applying it ourselves,” chief executive Dave Ricks told CNN in an interview.

Biden applauded the move by Lilly, calling it “a big deal.”

“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. Insulin costs less than $10 to make, but Americans are sometimes forced to pay over $300 for it. It’s flat wrong,” Biden said in a statement on Wednesday.

The president also called on other pharmaceutical companies to cut drug costs.

A Lilly spokeswoman said the current list price for a 10-millilitre vial of the fast-acting, mealtime insulin Humalog is US$274.70 ($375). That will fall to US$66.40 ($90).