Eli Lilly & Co. is capping out-of-pocket costs for insulin at $35 a month, following a public plea from President Joe Biden for lower prices of the diabetes treatment for all Americans.
Lilly announced the cap Wednesday along with other actions, including cutting the list price for non-branded Insulin Lispro Injection to $25 a vial in May, while some Humalog and Humulin doses will be slashed 70% in the fourth quarter. Newly launched Rezvoglar will sell at a 78% discount to a biosimilar version — Sanofi’s Lantus — starting in April, the company said.
The drugmaker is heeding Biden’s call just as it’s lobbying for a bill to allow obesity drugs to be covered by Medicare, including its popular Mounjaro diabetes treatment, which is under review for weight loss. In his State of the Union address last month, Biden said he’d seek to expand the Inflation Reduction Act’s $35 cap on insulin costs for seniors on Medicare to all patients. His administration has made lowering the cost of insulin a priority, but his proposal faces an uphill battle in a divided Congress.
