Novo Nordisk is reducing the US list price of select insulin products from the Danish pharmaceutical company by up to 75%. Said Tuesday.
The change, which will take effect on January 1, 2024, follows a similar move by Eli Lilly earlier this month, which said it would cut list prices of several products, including Humalog, by 70% later this year.
But Eli Lilly went one step further and soon capped her out-of-pocket costs on all insulin products at $35 a month.
President Joe Biden praised Eli Lilly at the time and called on other insulin manufacturers to follow suit.
It is made up of Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk and French pharmaceutical company Sanofi. Over 90% of the insulin market in the United States.
Following Eli Lilly’s announcement, experts expected other insulin makers to make changes as well.
“Novo Nordisk is playing after the leaders here after Eli Lilly drastically lowered the price of its insulin products,” said executive vice president of health policy at KFF, formerly known as the Kaiser Family Foundation. said Larry Levitt.
The company also faces stiff competition for these drugs, said Stacey Ducetzina, a professor of health policy at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee.
“We have very little to lose by making this change,” she said.
Novo Nordisk announced Tuesday that its popular fast-acting insulin NovoLog and NovoLog Mix 70/30 will be priced at $72.34 per vial and $139.71 per pen, a 75% price reduction.
The price of Levemir, a long-acting insulin, will drop 65% to $107.85 per vial and $161.77 per pen, the company said. Novolin has similar price reductions at $48.20 per vial and $91.09 per pen.
Most consumers will not pay full price for the drug. The copayment you pay at the pharmacy depends on your insurance. Under the Reducing Inflation Act, which took effect January 1, Medicare seniors only pay $35 or less per month out-of-pocket.
Levitt said Novo Nordisk’s move is most likely to bring relief to those who don’t have insurance or who have high deductibles.
Diabetes advocacy group T1 International called Tuesday’s move a “big win” for insulin users, but added that more needs to be done.
“A vial of insulin costs about $3 to $6 to manufacture,” the group said in a statement. “$72 for 1 vial of NovoLog insulin is still too high and we continue to pressure them to demand further reductions.”
Novo Nordisk continues to offer programs to make insulin more affordable.
Steve Albers, senior vice president of market access and public relations at Novo Nordisk, said in a statement:
Insulin costs in the US are higher than in other countries. According to Rand Corporation, a public policy think tank, the average list price for a single vial of insulin in the United States was $98.70 in 2018.
Sanofi is the only major insulin maker in the US that has not announced price cuts on its products.
In a statement, a Sanofi spokesperson declined to say whether the insulin list price would be reduced, instead saying the company would reduce out-of-pocket costs for those who are uninsured or have private insurance. Mentioned support programs.
A Sanofi spokesperson said, “As we have done in the past, Sanofi will continue to review and update our programs and business strategy.
