30-07-2022, 01:31 PM
By ADAM BEAM
yesterday
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A vial of insulin cost $25 in 1995, back when Chris Noble was 5 years old and just learning how to manage his Type 1 diabetes with the help of his parents and his doctors.
Nearly three decades later, Noble says that same vial of insulin costs more than $300 — a 12-fold increase for something he and millions like him can’t live without.
......
insulin, while inexpensive to produce, is held hostage by a U.S. health care system stubbornly resistant to reforms as companies monopolize and maximize profits.
......
about 7 million people in the United States require insulin to manage their diabetes.
......
Insulin was first discovered in 1920s by a team of Canadian scientists. They sold the patent to the University of Toronto for just $1, hoping the school would license the product to multiple companies to prevent a monopoly that would lead to high prices.
But over time, the insulin market was slowly cornered. Today, just three companies produce most of the world’s insulin. In the United States, the line between an insulin manufacturer and a patient is not straight. It zigs and zags between insurance companies and pharmacy benefit managers — third parties that managed prescription drug benefits for health plans.
It’s that system that has kept the cost of insulin much higher in the United States than other countries, as more companies benefit from the higher price tag
https://apnews.com/article/health-califo...3a9495d496
yesterday
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A vial of insulin cost $25 in 1995, back when Chris Noble was 5 years old and just learning how to manage his Type 1 diabetes with the help of his parents and his doctors.
Nearly three decades later, Noble says that same vial of insulin costs more than $300 — a 12-fold increase for something he and millions like him can’t live without.
......
insulin, while inexpensive to produce, is held hostage by a U.S. health care system stubbornly resistant to reforms as companies monopolize and maximize profits.
......
about 7 million people in the United States require insulin to manage their diabetes.
......
Insulin was first discovered in 1920s by a team of Canadian scientists. They sold the patent to the University of Toronto for just $1, hoping the school would license the product to multiple companies to prevent a monopoly that would lead to high prices.
But over time, the insulin market was slowly cornered. Today, just three companies produce most of the world’s insulin. In the United States, the line between an insulin manufacturer and a patient is not straight. It zigs and zags between insurance companies and pharmacy benefit managers — third parties that managed prescription drug benefits for health plans.
It’s that system that has kept the cost of insulin much higher in the United States than other countries, as more companies benefit from the higher price tag
https://apnews.com/article/health-califo...3a9495d496