There’s a better solution; regulate, fine and breakup unscrupulous drug companies.
Hang on, isn’t insulin pricing the exact sort of thing anti-cartel/anti-competitive laws are meant to prevent?
Insulin is way too expensive. California has a solution: Make its own
111–120 of 273 posts
Re: Insulin is way too expensive. California has a solution: Make its own
#112Earlier quoted context omitted.
Hi Rayiner, you are spot on with your analysis. My name is Eric, and my non-profit, Project Insulin, is tackling this problem head-on as well. We are developing a biosimilar insulin and will distribute it directly to patients at cost. The drug development process is still expensive but much cheaper because of the Biologics Act that was passed in 2020. When going through the FDA approval process, biosimilar insulin ma…
Hi Eric! I'm a T1D and so super interested in this space. Can you comment on whether it is the case that "modern" insulins (Lantus and Humalog/Novolog, in my case) are both covered by current patents, and also considerably better for patient outcomes (faster acting, more predictable -> lower A1c) than non-covered insulins? That is my understanding for why cheap, high quality insulins are not available, but I'd love t…
(not OP). some quick googling reveals lantus is no longer covered by patents. patents in the usa last 20y, and they filed the main patent for that drug in 1994.
it looks like they tried to patent some pen injection mechanism as a way to artificially extend the patent, but the patents were tossed out. I think that's a similar approach to how the Epi-pen people have maintained control, except their pursuit was successful (epinephrine isn't exactly a new chemical, nor is the process for manufacture).
still--manufacture of these drugs is long and expensive process, esp with fda approval. new entrants want to recoup their cost. the public is a great institution to develop generics because it can happily do so without a profit motive.
Re: Insulin is way too expensive. California has a solution: Make its own
#113> Though insulin generally costs less than $10 per dose to produce, some versions of the drug have a list price above $200. This is in part because, in the US, a warped market has allowed three companies to dominate the insulin business. > With California leading the way, a handful of states are considering trying to disrupt the market for essential medications, starting with insulin. The plan would be to manufacture…
If it was about intellectual property then it would not be tens of times cheaper in the EU and other countries. Insulin is not something new and advanced that needs special protection
Re: Insulin is way too expensive. California has a solution: Make its own
#114This is great news. Honestly, I hope to see more nationalization of widely used services (or whatever the equivalent word for nationalization is at state or municipal levels.) Municipal broadband, power, roads, schools, post, housing, and healthcare? It's long overdue, and with an appropriate amount of funding has been shown to be effective at controlling costs and delivering moderately good quality in most cases. A…
> has been shown to be effective at controlling costs
That has never happened. What does happen is the cost is borne by the taxpayer rather than the user of the service.
The "warping" of the profit motive in the insulin case is entirely caused by government interference and regulation (by making it nearly impossible for competitors to spin up and make insulin).
Re: Insulin is way too expensive. California has a solution: Make its own
#115> Though insulin generally costs less than $10 per dose to produce, some versions of the drug have a list price above $200. This is in part because, in the US, a warped market has allowed three companies to dominate the insulin business. > With California leading the way, a handful of states are considering trying to disrupt the market for essential medications, starting with insulin. The plan would be to manufacture…
> I don't understand. My understanding of why insulin is so expensive: intellectual property laws are enforced by the government preventing businesses without that intellectual property to compete in the space. That’s not an accurate understanding of intellectual property specifically. Insulin isn’t like a pill, where once you have a chemical formula you can make millions of them very cheaply. It’s a biologic, an art…
People dont want insulin (traditional insulin.) They want fancy insulin (modern insulin), because it is convenient. They want modern rapid and long acting insulin. They want pens. Maybe people want the inhalable powder. Those innovations exist outside the original insulin patent. They are also mixing other drugs with the insulin.
>Average retail prices of Novolin and Humulin (traditional short- and intermediate-acting insulins) have gone down, or held steady, while prices of modern rapid- and long-acting insulins continue to go up. On average, traditional insulins now cost less than half of what modern insulins cost.
https://www.goodrx.com/healthcare-access/research/how-much-d...
There is a lot more going on that makes high end insulin expensive. A lot of conversation around insulin is people talking past each other because they are referring to different things that they think should be free, usually one of these additional features on top of the hormone itself.
Re: Insulin is way too expensive. California has a solution: Make its own
#116This is great news. Honestly, I hope to see more nationalization of widely used services (or whatever the equivalent word for nationalization is at state or municipal levels.) Municipal broadband, power, roads, schools, post, housing, and healthcare? It's long overdue, and with an appropriate amount of funding has been shown to be effective at controlling costs and delivering moderately good quality in most cases. A…
You say that as if healthcare isn't extremely regulated already and as if the regulation weren't a big factor in allowing these companies to monopolize the production of insulin. (Or, my favorite example back when I needed the stuff, colchisine.)
Re: Insulin is way too expensive. California has a solution: Make its own
#117Earlier quoted context omitted.
The rules of reconciliation are indeed arcane. There is a Senate Parliamentarian who makes calls on interpretations because the details are so convoluted. Sure, at a high level it's simple. But so is "crawl the internet, make a database and match keywords from requests to a ranked list of results."
> There is a Senate Parliamentarian who makes calls on interpretations Sorta. They can be fired at will ( https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2001/05/08/k... ) and they're making advisories , which the Senate can just... overrule.
If the parliamentarian is "overruled" for political reasons, the likely outcome is that the Senate grinds to a halt, not that the majority party gets to pass desired legislation that otherwise wouldn't pass.
The job of the parliamentarian is to interpret the rules and give advice about what is allowed and what is not. Sure, they can be wrong. But if you don't like the rules, change them. Because any self-governing body that isn't following its own rules isn't actually operating. Any legislation the Senate "passes" in violation of its own rules doesn't actually exist. It's an exercise in futility. Both Democrats and Republicans understand this and both parties value an impartial parliamentarian as an asset. It's a job created out of need:
> Charles Watkins had arrived in the Senate in 1904 from Arkansas to work as a stenographer. Blessed with a photographic memory, and a curiosity about Senate procedures, he eventually transferred to the Senate floor as journal clerk. In 1919 he started what became a 45-year search of the Congressional Record, back to the 1880s, for Senate decisions that interpreted the body’s individual standing rules to the legislative needs of the moment.
> In 1923 Watkins replaced the ailing assistant secretary of the Senate as unofficial advisor on floor procedure to the presiding officer. From that time, he became the body’s parliamentarian, in fact if not in title. Finally, in 1935, at a time when an increased volume of New Deal-era legislation expanded opportunities for procedural confusion and mischief, he gained the actual title.
https://www.senate.gov/about/officers-staff/secretary-of-the...
Re: Insulin is way too expensive. California has a solution: Make its own
#118This is great news. Honestly, I hope to see more nationalization of widely used services (or whatever the equivalent word for nationalization is at state or municipal levels.) Municipal broadband, power, roads, schools, post, housing, and healthcare? It's long overdue, and with an appropriate amount of funding has been shown to be effective at controlling costs and delivering moderately good quality in most cases. A…
> Municipal broadband, power, roads, schools, post, housing, and healthcare? It's long overdue, and with an appropriate amount of funding has been shown to be effective at controlling costs and delivering moderately good quality in most cases. Where? The US has among the highest percentage of kids going to government owned and operated schools. We have plenty of government housing as well (projects). Nearly all of ou…
There are many causes of lackluster public education, and funding is definitely one of them. Another huge one is the ability of parents who have the time and resources to divert their children (likely already at a huge advantage) to private and charter schools, thereby skewing the public school below the median in a vicious circle. I’ve seen this exact dynamic play out in many of the cities I have lived. It’s also why newer suburbs (avoiding legacy costs and filled with upwardly mobile, resourced families) have excellent public schools.
Re: Insulin is way too expensive. California has a solution: Make its own
#119This is great news. Honestly, I hope to see more nationalization of widely used services (or whatever the equivalent word for nationalization is at state or municipal levels.) Municipal broadband, power, roads, schools, post, housing, and healthcare? It's long overdue, and with an appropriate amount of funding has been shown to be effective at controlling costs and delivering moderately good quality in most cases. A…
> Municipal broadband, power, roads, schools, post, housing, and healthcare? It's long overdue, and with an appropriate amount of funding has been shown to be effective at controlling costs and delivering moderately good quality in most cases. Where? The US has among the highest percentage of kids going to government owned and operated schools. We have plenty of government housing as well (projects). Nearly all of ou…
Its easy to point at what doesn't work well, there's tons and tons of things that work great that nobody talks about.
Municipal broadband: the best broadband in the entire United States is provided by the municipality of Chattanooga. [1]
Post: The USPS is the most trusted brand in the United States, above FedEx and UPS. [2]
Transit: The New York City Subway is the 3rd largest metro rail system on earth after London and Guangzhou. Ok fine, it's expensive to build - but it moved 1,300,000,000 people in 2021.
That's just three random ones.
[1] https://www.ama.org/marketing-news/usps-ranked-most-trusted-...
[2] https://qz.com/1996234/the-best-broadband-in-the-us-is-in-ch...
Re: Insulin is way too expensive. California has a solution: Make its own
#120> Though insulin generally costs less than $10 per dose to produce, some versions of the drug have a list price above $200. This is in part because, in the US, a warped market has allowed three companies to dominate the insulin business. > With California leading the way, a handful of states are considering trying to disrupt the market for essential medications, starting with insulin. The plan would be to manufacture…
> Is California just going to ignore these laws? How will the state not be liable for damages when individuals are?
IANAL. But would this be similar to Jim Olive Photography v. University of Houston System?
https://fairuse.stanford.edu/case/jim-olive-photography-v-un...