$35 insulin price cap goes into effect for one company

The cost of some insulin will be cheaper in 2024.

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Sanofi announced last year that it was joining other drug companies to set a cap on insulin at $35. The new pricing went into effect on Jan. 1, CNN reported.

Sanofi makes Lantus and had already set the cost at $35 for uninsured patients. The set price now applies to all patents with commercial insurance.

Several drugmakers have been under fire for raising the price of insulin by more than 24% from 2017 to 2022, with spending on the life-saving drug at $22.3 billion. The drug is relatively inexpensive to make.

Novo Nordisk, Sanofi and Eli Lilly make about 90% of the world’s insulin treatments, CNBC reported in October.

About 8.4 million people in America use insulin with as many as 1 in 4 patients not able to afford it, according to the American Diabetes Association.

The Inflation Reduction Act passed in Congress in 2022 had set the top price for Medicare patients at $35 a month but the drug companies were also threatened that if they didn’t lower the list price of the drug, the Medicare rebate program would not pay out, costing them hundreds of millions of dollars, CNN reported.

The act only applied to Medicare patients, not ones with private insurance, CNBC reported.

Novo Nordisk started MyInsulinRx to give eligible patients a 30-day supply of insulin for $35. Uninsured patients are eligible. They also have a copay savings card that sets an insulin price range of $35 and $99 a month, depending on health insurance.

Eli Lilly cut the price of Humalog, the company’s most prescribed insulin, and Humulin by 70% in 2023.

Other companies such as Civica Rx are developing cheaper insulin. Civica Rx is looking to sell its product for $30 a month, CNN reported.