3 ms·

Number of people suffering from diabetes has risen exponentially, demand goes up, so do the prices. It's going to stabilize as years go on.

michaelmrose 9y ago
Demand has gone up it hasn't risen exponentially. The manufacturers have colluded to raise the price. There is no reason for it to ever come down.
- loverofthings 9y ago
  We live in the age of globalization and capitalism. There's bunch of cheap stuff coming from all over the world. Collusion on that scale is not possible. There's just more people suffering from diabetes T2 than ever before. Someone is just profiting off of large demand.
  - mschuster91 9y ago
    > There's bunch of cheap stuff coming from all over the world. Said cheap stuff from everywhere cannot be legally mass-imported into Western countries (and that for good reason). > Collusion on that scale is not possible Oh it certainly is. The "old" insulin may be produced as a generic but the new varieties (as described by the article) are patented by a few companies. In addition insulin production is extremely expensive compared to simple pill pressing as you need bioreactors and GMOs to produce it. Many generics vendors opt out of that complexity.
  - bobzibub 9y ago
    I would refine "globalism and capitalism" to just "corporatism". It really is socialism for companies and capitalism for you and I. Patent laws suit big Pharma. Trade law and health guidelines suit big Agriculture. (Ketoer here so you know where I'm coming from.) Tough luck for the millions of people caught in the middle between these influential sets of oligarchs. It is abhorrent that regular people subsidize (and pay a high price in life and limb) for government's covert largess to these corporations.
- thousandautumns 9y ago
  Demand absolutely has skyrocketed. When people think "diabetes" they think of fat people in the US and Europe. The reality is that China and India have developed some of the highest type 2 diabetes rates in the world over the course of the past few decades as their economies have grown and resulted in more overweight people. The two largest nations in the world developing major diabetes problems in a relatively short amount of time is going to have significant effects on demand.
alan-crowe 9y ago
One expects prices to always rise in response to increased demand in the short term. One might call that the short term inelasticity of supply due to economic inertia; it simply takes time to ramp up production. But what of the long term? With products such as food, one expects that the best land is already in production, so increasing supply will require bringing marginal land into use, at higher cost. Supply is inelastic and prices rise. Similarly for minerals. One is usually mining the richest ores. To increase supply one has to spend more freely refining lower grade ores. There are no such constraints for producing insulin in medicinal quantities. The supply should be completely elastic, with the result that prices do not rise.

michaelmrose 9y ago

Demand has gone up it hasn't risen exponentially. The manufacturers have colluded to raise the price. There is no reason for it to ever come down.

loverofthings 9y ago
We live in the age of globalization and capitalism. There's bunch of cheap stuff coming from all over the world. Collusion on that scale is not possible. There's just more people suffering from diabetes T2 than ever before. Someone is just profiting off of large demand.
- mschuster91 9y ago
  > There's bunch of cheap stuff coming from all over the world. Said cheap stuff from everywhere cannot be legally mass-imported into Western countries (and that for good reason). > Collusion on that scale is not possible Oh it certainly is. The "old" insulin may be produced as a generic but the new varieties (as described by the article) are patented by a few companies. In addition insulin production is extremely expensive compared to simple pill pressing as you need bioreactors and GMOs to produce it. Many generics vendors opt out of that complexity.
- bobzibub 9y ago
  I would refine "globalism and capitalism" to just "corporatism". It really is socialism for companies and capitalism for you and I. Patent laws suit big Pharma. Trade law and health guidelines suit big Agriculture. (Ketoer here so you know where I'm coming from.) Tough luck for the millions of people caught in the middle between these influential sets of oligarchs. It is abhorrent that regular people subsidize (and pay a high price in life and limb) for government's covert largess to these corporations.
thousandautumns 9y ago
Demand absolutely has skyrocketed. When people think "diabetes" they think of fat people in the US and Europe. The reality is that China and India have developed some of the highest type 2 diabetes rates in the world over the course of the past few decades as their economies have grown and resulted in more overweight people. The two largest nations in the world developing major diabetes problems in a relatively short amount of time is going to have significant effects on demand.

alan-crowe 9y ago

One expects prices to always rise in response to increased demand in the short term. One might call that the short term inelasticity of supply due to economic inertia; it simply takes time to ramp up production. But what of the long term? With products such as food, one expects that the best land is already in production, so increasing supply will require bringing marginal land into use, at higher cost. Supply is inelastic and prices rise. Similarly for minerals. One is usually mining the richest ores. To increase supply one has to spend more freely refining lower grade ores. There are no such constraints for producing insulin in medicinal quantities. The supply should be completely elastic, with the result that prices do not rise.