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Why has insulin prices gone up then?
by JoshTko 2y ago
Why has insulin prices gone up then?
- jrh3 2y agoWhich insulin?
- Onavo 2y agoThe ones descended from Banting, Best, and MacLeod's original invention
- sigspec 2y agoYou can get human insulin from Walmart for 25 a vial without a prescription. Insulin analogs are most prescribed and subject to pricing issues. Particularly important to those with insulin resistance.
- jrh3 2y agoNobody has used those for years. New engineered insulins like Novolog have been going down in price for years. They can make tons of it now.
- pydry 2y agoCos market consolidation and collusion is a more powerful force than technological progress.
- Ekaros 2y agoWhy smartphone prices have gone up? Or GPU prices... With insulin it is not same, but new better or changed product. Similar insulin to past is not that highly priced.
- wetpaws 2y agoIt didn't in the most of the world. It did only in the USA cause america can't into free market
- altcognito 2y agoInsulin is not the same insulin that was first created - they have modified it with improvements to make the metabolic process much smoother.
- kelseyfrog 2y agoThat's cool. So you can still buy the cheaper original formulation?
- whimsicalism 2y agoyes, i believe it is like $25 at walmart. even the older synthetics are similarly priced if you don't have a prescription
- johngladtj 2y agoYes, you can buy a months supply for 30$ at Walmart
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- jjkaczor 2y agoGreed. Late-stage capitalism. Private Equity. Pick one - heck, pick any of the three - or all of them at the same time.
- smegger001 2y agogreed. the patent was donated to the public domain back when synthisis was discoverd but since the manufacturers have taken up tweaking it patenting that tweak then charging more and more. other countries dont have this problem with insulin. thats why you hear about people going to Canada and Mexico to get meds cheap.
- jrh3 2y agoNobody has used that type of insulin for decades.
- pkulak 2y agoIf the old insulin works just as well, and is basically free, why is everyone paying through the nose for the newly patented stuff?
- smegger001 2y agobecause they dont make it anymore
- klooney 2y agoThey do, you can still buy it for cheap. It's not the same though, the new stuff works much faster.
- hadlock 2y ago"old insulin" pre-~1980 was made from grinding up animal (cow, pig) pancreas and extracting a tiny amount of pure insulin through a chemical extraction process. Wikipedia posts a ratio of 2 tons of animal matter to 8 oz of insulin. It was "easy" but didn't scale up very well.
- gklitz 2y ago> because they don’t make it anymore They do, you can buy it at Walmart cheaply.
- johngladtj 2y agoIt hasn't.
- goodluckchuck 2y agoI think that’s a function of consumers switching to newer variants and injectors. Basic insulin in a vial retails for like 2 Cents a unit.
- NoMoreNicksLeft 2y agoBecause it's not just plain insulin. Insulin, for the miracle drug that it is, doesn't work for everyone equally. Depending on personal dietary habits, unique pharmacokinetic responses, how far diabetes has progressed... sometimes it lowers blood glucose too quickly or for too long or too short a time. So they've developed a hundred different formulations, and doctors basically just keep trying new ones until the patient gets the results they're both after. These new formulations cost more than plain insulin. They're almost all patentable and no generics are available. Wouldn't be shocked if old-style plain insulin hasn't (more or less) just followed inflation.
- FredPret 2y agoHas it? Keep in mind that there's always been constant inflation, and that people keep earning more money per hour worked even after inflation, and that products tend to get better - even insulin is now better than before.
- littlestymaar 2y agoOh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of the Market! How unsearchable are His judgments and decisions and how unfathomable and untraceable are His ways!