High insulin prices explained with Dr. Swapna Reddy

Prices for drugs like insulin are sky high in Arizona.

Dr. Swapna Reddy, clinical associate professor at Arizona State University’s College of Health Solutions, joined Arizona Horizon to explain why.

In the last 20 years, ASU’s College of Health Solutions found spikes and increases almost impossible to defend at any level. There’s a huge public outcry because there are so many Americans with diabetes who are impacted by this issue.

“Most people that need it really still can’t afford or struggle with affording,” said Dr. Reddy.

The three dominant insulin manufacturers, Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk, and Sanofi control 90% of the insulin market in the world.

A lot of times manufacturers and stakeholders increase these prices because of research and development and inflation but even though there have been some incremental improvements to insulin and applicators for insulin those changes certainly don’t equal 300-600% improvement,” said Dr. Reddy.

Starting with Eli Lily, they decided to cut some of the list prices on insulin brands and also created a $35 monthly cap on commercial plans and for the uninsured while the other two companies followed suit.

“What we have also is 40 million Americans that have diabetes and 8 million people need insulin every single day to stay alive,” said Dr. Reddy. “We really should not be in a place with an old medication where people still can’t afford it.