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Insulin is way too expensive. California has a solution: Make its own

vox.com

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Re: Insulin is way too expensive. California has a solution: Make its own

#21

Post by kwere »

pastacacioepepe wrote: post #5

[flagged]

the constraints of cited issues (affordable insulin, housing) are due to cartel-like behaviour from stakeholders in the market.

It is not a characteristic of (freemarket) capitalism in itself (like, the rest of the world make it work), but a concentration/tyrrany of powers (patents, regulation, lobbying) and a disregard of human life/health in society.

These are not factors that disappear in a socialist/comunist framework unless one is "government from the people" naive.

A "simple solution" would be to make patents on critical things to be "opensourced", licenseable in automatic to anyone interested in exchange of a % fee on sales to patent-holders, making still competitive for Original-inventors to produce things at a competive advantage while keeping prices for End-Users "honest" due to production competition

Re: Insulin is way too expensive. California has a solution: Make its own

#23

Post by smt88 »

bhawks wrote: post #19

Big pharma has totally pwnd the regulations the government enforces on the prescription drug market ensuring they have monopoly pricing power. Why wait for CA to spin up it's own insulin manufacturing industry - just do not prosecute the import/manufacturing and resale of insulin - like it did for medical marijuana in the 90s?

Manufacturing in the US is better for the US economy and looks much better if you're someone trying to get re-elected.

Re: Insulin is way too expensive. California has a solution: Make its own

#24

Post by rayiner »

yonran wrote: post #15

I listened to the Vox The Weeds podcast interviewing the same author and was frustrated that his many explanations seemed disconnected. Since old insulin patents have expired, is it that you are allowed to buy generic insulin but there are no manufacturers, or that you not allowed to buy generic insulin because recent advancements are so good that doctors won’t prescribe the old stuff anymore? And no one will make ge…

> Since old insulin patents have expired, is it that you are allowed to buy generic insulin but there are no manufacturers, or that you not allowed to buy generic insulin because recent advancements are so good that doctors won’t prescribe the old stuff anymore?

Walmart sells human insulin (the previous gen stuff) for $25/vial. It’s manufactured by Novo Nordisk. It’s what was regularly prescribed in the 1990s. It has downsides, such as requiring a strict eating schedule: https://diabetesstrong.com/walmart-insulin/

Most doctors today prescribe human analog insulin. They do this because it is better at controlling blood sugar without requiring strict eating schedules.

Re: Insulin is way too expensive. California has a solution: Make its own

#25

Post by dmreedy »

yonran wrote: post #15

I listened to the Vox The Weeds podcast interviewing the same author and was frustrated that his many explanations seemed disconnected. Since old insulin patents have expired, is it that you are allowed to buy generic insulin but there are no manufacturers, or that you not allowed to buy generic insulin because recent advancements are so good that doctors won’t prescribe the old stuff anymore? And no one will make ge…

You are allowed to buy generic/affordable "older" varieties of insulin. It can be got at Walmart for $25 per vial. It is a "regular insulin" as opposed to the more modern insulin analogs; a functional but inferior technology that requires a very restrictive and rigid diet, as opposed to modern combinations of fast and slow acting analogs that allow for something closer to a "normal", albeit carb-cautious diet. It will, to quote my endocrinologist, "keep you alive". It is not part of a modern regimen for a Type 1 Diabetic.

My understanding is that it is manufactured by Novo Nordisk, the makers of more modern, name-brand insulins, as well (they make the fast-acting insulin aspart called Novolog that I take as part of my own regimen).

For further reference: https://diabetesstrong.com/walmart-insulin/

Re: Insulin is way too expensive. California has a solution: Make its own

#26

Post by jeffbee »

skybrian wrote: post #14
pastacacioepepe wrote: post #5

[flagged]

This is sweeping a lot of problems under the rug. Many US governments are so disfunctional that it's unclear that they could succeed at European-style public housing. An analogy: just because Japan has a very good high-speed rail network doesn't imply that a new one will succeed in the US. In California it's an open question whether it's going to succeed in the end. You can't assume the US way of doing things like th…

California has a vast and robust sprawling network of socialized transportation, the budget for which has doubled in the past 2 years to consume 7% of the annual state budget. Think I am talking about high speed rail? No, just the freeway department, which spends 40x more every year and the economic sustainability of which is never even obliquely questioned.

In short, California has plenty of appetite for socialism, as long as it is the kind they want.

Re: Insulin is way too expensive. California has a solution: Make its own

#27

Post by jfghi »

yonran wrote: post #15

I listened to the Vox The Weeds podcast interviewing the same author and was frustrated that his many explanations seemed disconnected. Since old insulin patents have expired, is it that you are allowed to buy generic insulin but there are no manufacturers, or that you not allowed to buy generic insulin because recent advancements are so good that doctors won’t prescribe the old stuff anymore? And no one will make ge…

In my experience at least, yes, there are many types. However, a few types are remarkably common and overpriced. In terms of a tech metaphor, it’d be like making Ubuntu and Windows 10 available for all after having them severely restricted. And yes, I know Ubuntu is free, but the point was to demonstrate how common the most popular insulins are.

Re: Insulin is way too expensive. California has a solution: Make its own

#28

Post by genderwhy »

ErikVandeWater wrote: post #9

> States have become more ambitious in their policies for tackling the insulin affordability crisis because the scale of the problem continues to grow and the federal government seems capable of taking only limited action to address it. As if the federal government isn't the one causing the shortage in the first place.

[Citation very much needed]

Re: Insulin is way too expensive. California has a solution: Make its own

#30

Post by yonran »

jfghi wrote: post #27
yonran wrote: post #15

I listened to the Vox The Weeds podcast interviewing the same author and was frustrated that his many explanations seemed disconnected. Since old insulin patents have expired, is it that you are allowed to buy generic insulin but there are no manufacturers, or that you not allowed to buy generic insulin because recent advancements are so good that doctors won’t prescribe the old stuff anymore? And no one will make ge…

In my experience at least, yes, there are many types. However, a few types are remarkably common and overpriced. In terms of a tech metaphor, it’d be like making Ubuntu and Windows 10 available for all after having them severely restricted. And yes, I know Ubuntu is free, but the point was to demonstrate how common the most popular insulins are.

Are the popular types of insulin still under patent, and if so, how is California’s initiative a solution? Are they hoping to license the necessary patents?
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