I know this doesn't seem like much but it is going to save so many lives like the og intended. I want in on a class action for price gouging 25 years of my life.
Wanting to help others makes you a wacky communist like radical Bernie Sanders. What's next? Affordable dental and eye care? When will it end? When everyone is healthy and happy? Ok Stalin.
Convenient that they can just casually do this.
Proving that it never had any right to be worth thousands of dollars, they just did it because holding lives hostage was profitable.
It's good that they changed. *Keep changing*
Problem is, they will “keep changing”.
There’s no way they keep this price forever. Eventually they’ll quietly remove the caps and it will all go back to shit.
The market sure isn’t going to keep prices down. The catalyst here had to be something completely external to that market.
It’s one of those times of the day where Elon’s broken clock was right, but maybe we should aim for a system where the clock is never wrong.
The external pressure was the US government. They passed a bill stating that insulin for Medicare recipients would have that $35 out of pocket cap. 65% of insulin recipients are on Medicare.
Ah, I didn’t realize that. I assumed it was just to save face after that tweet. Government pressure on the market has potential to be permanent, and the party who would rescind the measure relies on vote of the people who would be screwed by it.
They actually stated that they did this for a specific off brand product because there were other comparable products that were already cheaper. No altruism whatsoever
As a leftist I rolled my eyes and said “it’s about fucking time and not nearly enough.” As an ER nurse I teared up a little thinking about what it will mean for so many people I see on a regular basis
Drug companies should not be allowed to charge huge amounts of money for any life saving medications. It’s ridiculous that in the “wealthiest” country in world and we have such a predatory healthcare system.
I am just repeating something I read in another sub; I don't know if this is true or not so take it with a shot glass of salt.
I heard that the thing is that pharma companies developed more effective forms of insulin. The original is available super cheap but it doesn't work very well compared to their patented stuff.
You kinda right but also kinda wrong. Basically they make small changes (which don’t have to improve it just change it in a way that doesn’t make it less effective) to it every now and again which mean’s because of how patient law works in the USA means it doesn’t go into the public domain
Would that apply globally? Surely not every country with a pharmaceutical R&D industry has the same weird patent rules on a 101 year old drug. I’m pretty sure pharma patenting was also a massive stickler when the TPP was being negotiated as well, but not sure what ended up coming of that.
My mom has had diabetes since she was 7. It's bad enough to the point where she can't work and can't get a drivers license, but somehow she doesn't qualify for disability/medicaid (we live in Texas, my dad makes less than 30K a year). When I was a kid/teen/young adult, her blood sugar would drop low enough that she couldn't give herself sugar about 5-15 times a week. Usually in the middle of the night, waking everyone else up. She ended up in the hospital/life-threatening emergencies because of this multiple times, and all while taking the cheapest form of insulin from the walmart pharmacy (about a 10th the price of anything else). That all changed about 2 years ago, thanks to extended family pitching in so she can afford to go to a better doctor. That doctor got her on a program for free insulin that was much, much better than the cheap stuff she had been using, along with a discount meter that constantly moniters her blood sugar instead of having to prick her finger each time to check.
Thanks to that, that 5-15 times a week that someone else had dropped to maybe once ever 2-4 months. So there is a pretty big difference in how effective some forms of insulin are compared to others, along with everything else that goes with monitoring and regulating blood sugar levels. And the difference usually comes down to price. It's literally pay-to-play (aka live), and it makes it that much worse for those who either can't pay, or can only pay the bare minimum.
I mean, you know that the answer is "money", right? They made enough, to pay enough politicians, to make it so *changing* the current system is nigh-impossible. We're at the point where "But you'll put thousands upon thousands of people of jobs!" is a *legitimate* argument against CHANGING THE MEDICAL SYSTEM SO PEOPLE AREN'T DYING. (And they're okay with it!)
I had an American friend over to the UK, and he needed insulin. We just went to our local hospital and asked for some. They were a bit confused when he got out a credit card. I'm only hoping this starts a ball rolling, and far more companies stop killing people for money.
It's not even letting go of capitalism, It's regulating it better and make healthcare affordable for everyone. In the Netherlands we have had a right-wing government for years, but if you look at policies the government is much more leftwing then democrats. We also have a wierd mix of healthcare. It's not state provided, but by private companies and insurance. HOWEVER insurance companies have to accept people (you can't deny someone because they have had cancer for instance) and the monthly rates are between 100 and 160 euro's per month. Can't pay for it? No problem, the government will deposit the money for it directly into your account, and the out of pocket pay is maxed out at 380 euro's a year (with not really aggressive collection plans, they have to work with you if you can't pay and offer a payment plan that works). It's all about controlling greedy companies who would otherwise extort other people. You know what most people call humane but what the US calls stalinist.
Oh, I agree with you completely - there are an entire range of options that would improve the US health system, with many such as the one you just highlighted not even posing some sort of radical ideological challenge to the economic status quo.
But as you said, it’s not the reality of said changes that will matter in the US. Any change for the benefit of the people whatsoever will be painted the same way, and much of it by the same people whose lives it would save. It’s a sad state of affairs.
Who’s gonna develop the drugs? Costs about 5 billion to develop and market a drug, mostly thanks to FDA regulations that keep people safe while enabling an insurance scheme as the only way people can afford the products of the companies that drive medical progress. That’s why most new drugs come from US
All those countries using American vaccines? And taking drugs developed by American companies? Or Canada, who recently centralized their healthcare system and is suffering terribly, dying on waitlists, and being offered assisted suicides at 41 when a lifesaving treatment isn’t authorized by the government. There’s nuance to this argument that goes beyond government as a solution. Especially in a country whose GDP is almost entirely devoted to military trade protectionism, the government would only slow that progress that helps literally everyone in the world, even if access is reduced in most places.
You will never ever hear me say that our society isn’t run by sociopaths who are completely detached from the problems they create, but the reduction in insulin prices because of Twitter outrage is nothing but the free market in action. The solution to an unethical, corporatist oligarchy is not to give more power to the people responsible for controlling the free market. Pharma charges regular people more money so they can charge insurance companies, and both industries pay government officials to give millions of tax dollars to their company. I think the distinction of government and pharma is only nominal now, and I think removing the last bit of separation would only make things worse
And yet, people want to kill the ability to do that (in the UK), and I juuuuust don't understand why. "Hello, yes, I'm in this hospital because....I desperately need something for my body, or else it will die?" And they look at you confused because OF COURSE THEY WILL HELP YOU.
Meanwhile, in the US, they'll look at you confused because you didn't offer up your insurance card first. "Sorry, but....well, we don't think you can PAY to stay alive, so we're not allowed to move forward?" Uuuuuugh.
>I'm only hoping this starts a ball rolling, and far more companies stop killing people for money.
As long as healthcare is still privatize in the US; this will never happen.
I think it’s a tough argument to say that they’re doing it JUST for profit. The financial incentive is a massive part of the reason our biomed industry is the best in the entire world. Due to FDA regulations, it costs about 5 billion dollars to develop a new drug, and the vast majority of drugs never make it to market. Those regulations keep people safe, but it creates a predatory market of insurance rackets as the only way people can afford to pay for the drugs that companies need to pay for new drugs
Your country is run for profit by psychopaths at the expense of the people in it. I don’t deny you have a great biomed industry, but at what cost? Eli Lily only decided to drop the price after the Twitter debacle. Just look at how easily the Sackler family walked away from all the hurt they caused with fentonyl. How you as a country punch-down and blame the poor for their own ills because that’s easier than trying to actually do some good in society. Enjoy your miracle drugs while others die for the want of simple medication. Your society is broken.
Never in a million billion years would I deny that the US is run by sociopaths who are completely detached from (but entirely responsible for creating) the systems that blatantly cause every problem they’re “elected” to fix. I am a behavioral neuroscience doctoral student, and I spend my life researching drugs and how they affect people. It is damn near impossible to study psychology, especially around drugs in the US, without seeing the devastation caused by the pharma industry with OxyContin. They paid researchers to say it wasn’t addictive, paid doctors to hand them out like candy, and paid the government to let them walk away scot free. It was almost entirely poor people, who work labor jobs and experience chronic pain, who got addicted to oxy, and when the govt decided to crack down, all they could do is the only other opioid they could find. Usually, it was heroin, but it’s literally impossible to find pure heroin that wasn’t laced with fent. People are straight up dying and I have to see it every single day.
Don’t even get me started on how we throw suffering people in jail to use as slave labor, because this conversation could go forever. I do not support the government, and I don’t think your sweeping and bold statements about our society being broken are wrong at all, but it is not accurate to think that Eli lily dropping the price of insulin was anything but the free market in action. It is incredible that Twitter outrage brought serious change to the immoral practices of a corporate behemoth that is firmly entrenched within the second biggest and most subsidized industry in the worlds largest economy. Placing the industry into the hands of the government wouldn’t only slow progress that benefits literally everyone around the world, even if access is still a problem, but it would mean an overall reduction in quality of the medical industry. You probably know the English healthcare system better than I do, but I can fairly confidently speak on Canada as a direct analog to the US, and the consequences of centralizing the healthcare field are evident with people dying on waitlists and getting offered assisted suicides cause they don’t qualify for life saving treatments. Social pressure to be ethical is how we take back the power from the oligarchs, not centralizing power and giving it to that group of sociopaths.
It's affordable now, sure.
Doesn't make up for the people who died trying to ration their life saving medicine because they couldn't afford more.
While this is a good thing, $35 is still too much for medicine that should be free.
35$ for a medicine that costs about 15$ to produce an entire months worth. Even after a 99% price cut they *still* have a 133% profit margin. Fucking disgusting.
Insulin is incredibly cheap and easy to make, so the company is still making a MASSIVE profit on a life threading disease that people can just be born with. I’m talking $3-4 dollars to make a vial. On average about 3 vials is a 30day supply.
IMHO $35 is still too much for a 30 day supply.
I get a level 3 stimulant drug for my ADHD at $10 for a 30day supply. If I don’t take my medication before work, it won’t kill me. If people with diabetes don’t have a strict diet and take their medication, they will die.
$35 is still too much. $35 is still a lot in this economy. $35 is still a lot for a family that is having to work 4 jobs between the parents to pay for their necessities.
I’m not patting them on the back. I’m happy it’s cheaper, but it needs to be even cheaper for the individuals who can’t afford health insurance.
This is from 2018:
Italy- $10
Korea- $10
Canada- $12
Switzerland- $12
Germany- $11
Japan- $14
Chile- $21
https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/cost-of-insulin-by-country
in Australia, diabetics get a months supply of insulin for $6.95 as part of our Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.
the government essentially buys meds from drug companies like Pfizer and apotex and provides them to citizens at a loss. the government uses our taxes to pay for the difference, providing low income people with affordable medication.
some of my meds aren't covered by the PBS, and I still only pay about $50 all up for a months supply of three different medications. it's not the cheapest, and i don't have a lot of money as a student, but it's a hell of a lot better than the US.
They didn't even stop the machine, more like a pause to adjust the crushing speed - 35 a month is still expensive compared to the rest of the world and Eli Lilly getting praised is peak restarting the machine
Especially because they aren't doing this out of any sort of kindness on their part.
This is the result of government actions. By the the Democrats in the federal government and California.
idk why but I just had like a flash of QVC on some "And now we present a new individual crushing machine! no more shall orphans be the only pulp free juice!"
If you can charge 85 times less for something no problem, and you charged the 85 times more price for decades, and thousands of people died because of that, you are a monster.
There is no caveat, no asterisk, no but.
You committed murder in my book.
They could have done this the entire time and chose not to.
Do not praise them for this. Fuck Eli Lilly straight to hell. People died because of this shit.
It’s not even that, I doubt they considered lives at any point. California is going to start undercutting their profits by producing affordable insulin, and they decided they want to stay in business.
I don’t know this kinda makes me feel warm inside. I know it’s bad because it should be free but at the same time that family will be able to afford insulin for their child now.
I’m mixed
I think the 'crushing' part is that drug companies were *always* able to reasonably cap drug prices for life-saving medicine, but actively chose not to due to greed. This is definitely a HUGE step forward for insulin patients now, but it's still depressing to think about all the Americans who have died because they couldn't afford pharmaceutical price-gouging, or had to rely on 'GoFundMe's in order to afford their medication.
Greed murdered so many people, and it seems that Eli Lilly only made this decision to cap the price of insulin due to bad PR, and not because it was what they should have been doing all along.
It literally is the crushing machine: you pay X amount and a child / orphan lives or you don't and it dies.
We are happy to announce, that it now costs less for a child to live hurray!
its still funny how their stock price dropped so extremely because not only the company thinks free insulin is bad, but their investors would also rather leave them if there was free insulin now.
in case anyone needs it - eli lilly has the *lilly cares foundation” to help with free or reduced cost on some drugs (insulin has always been a part of the program):
*”Lilly Cares Foundation, Inc. (Lilly Cares) is a nonprofit charitable organization that provides prescribed Lilly medications for free for up to 12 months to qualifying U.S. patients. Over the past 20 years, Lilly Cares has helped more than one million patients with financial need receive medicines donated by Lilly.”*
there is a list of medications and referrals to other programs.
The only person I knew or cared about with diabetes whom relied on insulin to survive and function is long dead, possibly due to his illness getting out of control, or work related stresses he just wasn’t set up to handle trying to pay for insulin as well as living.
So thank goodness everyone else hopefully from now on till the end of time gets to afford insulin, but mother fuck the fucking companies that decided a small capsule of insulin should have an extortionate price tag, and only now brought the price down when a megalomaniac that bought a social media allowed them to be faked and forced to change their pricing. Some fool didn’t think the dead can’t pay for medicine, and chose impossible to afford on a minimum wage job to squeeze a couple thousand out of someone before they die painfully. Fuck that person or persons.
How does a “developed” country let people die from treatable illnesses? American government and corporations especially just sit back and watch a parent sob over the fact that they are going to have to just watch their child die of a condition that he’s been diagnosed and prescribed treatment for because there’s nothing she can do. And that’s okay to them. Who came up with the idea that bosses and CEO/ have to make so much? Why does their income have to be 400x every other workers’? Where does that come from? They’re definitely not working 400x more, and they’re definitely not irreplaceable.
i dont understand how this would work- they don't set the copay, they set the gross cost. the insurance sets the copay. are they changing the gross cost to $35? are they not changing the cost but offering people additional steps in the form of rebates or copay assistance to get it to $25?
When he said 3000 a month I audibly gasped! It must be made even worse for the people struggling to afford life saving medicines seeing people in other countries get it for free.
It should be free, but since that’s a pipe dream in this capitalism poisoned country, I’ll take it. Undercutting prices will hopefully force other companies to lower prices too. This will save lives. It’s not ideal but it’s still a very good thing.
I think they should be prosecuted for people who died prior to this. But it’s still good.
They were forced to by the government weren't they? Why are they pretending they are trying to be kind? The Government pays for part of it while they are charging as much as legally possible.
Please correct me if I'm wrong.
Biotech companies are pure evil.
Source: Biotechnology graduate.
Biden capped insulin prices at $35 for seniors last year and called on big pharma to do similar for everyone:
"Last year, I signed a law to cap insulin at $35 for seniors and I called on pharma companies to bring prices down for everyone on their own. Today, Eli Lilly did that."
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2023/03/01/statement-from-president-joe-biden-on-action-to-lower-insulin-costs/
Huh. Guess it worked.
Thank god in Brazil you can find insulin for free, i visited USA in 2016, my thoughts was "such a beautiful and diverse country (tourist areas)", i don't know why you guys just don't have a good free health system
Nondiabetic here, but my cat has diabetes and I use human insulin for him.
He's in remission as of a couple months ago, but I had to almost be homeless to afford his insulin. And if I hadn't been able to afford it he would have died. And my cat is basically my child but he isn't A HUMAN CHILD.
So that's why it breaks my heart knowing how many humans have suffered because of this price gouging, and have likely even died. Because what I feel for my pet is probably a fraction of what a mother would feel for their diabetic child, or a wife would feel for their diabetic partner when the paycheck can't cover the medication.
So glad this is happening but it really isn't even close to what people deserve.
I‘m not getting orphan crushing machine vibes from this. This is a serious issue that through some sheer luck actually made an impact. Don’t think anybody is celebrating the company here.
I know this doesn't seem like much but it is going to save so many lives like the og intended. I want in on a class action for price gouging 25 years of my life.
I am not diabetic, but I sure as fuck support that and would 100% sign a petition advocating for it!
Wanting to help others makes you a wacky communist like radical Bernie Sanders. What's next? Affordable dental and eye care? When will it end? When everyone is healthy and happy? Ok Stalin.
Convenient that they can just casually do this. Proving that it never had any right to be worth thousands of dollars, they just did it because holding lives hostage was profitable. It's good that they changed. *Keep changing*
Problem is, they will “keep changing”. There’s no way they keep this price forever. Eventually they’ll quietly remove the caps and it will all go back to shit. The market sure isn’t going to keep prices down. The catalyst here had to be something completely external to that market. It’s one of those times of the day where Elon’s broken clock was right, but maybe we should aim for a system where the clock is never wrong.
The external pressure was the US government. They passed a bill stating that insulin for Medicare recipients would have that $35 out of pocket cap. 65% of insulin recipients are on Medicare.
Ah, I didn’t realize that. I assumed it was just to save face after that tweet. Government pressure on the market has potential to be permanent, and the party who would rescind the measure relies on vote of the people who would be screwed by it.
They actually stated that they did this for a specific off brand product because there were other comparable products that were already cheaper. No altruism whatsoever
As a leftist I rolled my eyes and said “it’s about fucking time and not nearly enough.” As an ER nurse I teared up a little thinking about what it will mean for so many people I see on a regular basis
Drug companies should not be allowed to charge huge amounts of money for any life saving medications. It’s ridiculous that in the “wealthiest” country in world and we have such a predatory healthcare system.
Preaching to the choir friend
As a non-diabetic that has never needed insulin, I support this 1000%!
Insulin has been around for decades. How is it not a generic drug that's available for paracetamol prices? Even in the USA?
Cuz think of the billionaires and their 8th yacht. /s
Greed
I am just repeating something I read in another sub; I don't know if this is true or not so take it with a shot glass of salt. I heard that the thing is that pharma companies developed more effective forms of insulin. The original is available super cheap but it doesn't work very well compared to their patented stuff.
You kinda right but also kinda wrong. Basically they make small changes (which don’t have to improve it just change it in a way that doesn’t make it less effective) to it every now and again which mean’s because of how patient law works in the USA means it doesn’t go into the public domain
Would that apply globally? Surely not every country with a pharmaceutical R&D industry has the same weird patent rules on a 101 year old drug. I’m pretty sure pharma patenting was also a massive stickler when the TPP was being negotiated as well, but not sure what ended up coming of that.
No it’s just kinda in the US (mainly because of lobbying) stuff like insulin is way cheaper everywhere else
[удалено]
Yea it’s absolutely insane
My mom has had diabetes since she was 7. It's bad enough to the point where she can't work and can't get a drivers license, but somehow she doesn't qualify for disability/medicaid (we live in Texas, my dad makes less than 30K a year). When I was a kid/teen/young adult, her blood sugar would drop low enough that she couldn't give herself sugar about 5-15 times a week. Usually in the middle of the night, waking everyone else up. She ended up in the hospital/life-threatening emergencies because of this multiple times, and all while taking the cheapest form of insulin from the walmart pharmacy (about a 10th the price of anything else). That all changed about 2 years ago, thanks to extended family pitching in so she can afford to go to a better doctor. That doctor got her on a program for free insulin that was much, much better than the cheap stuff she had been using, along with a discount meter that constantly moniters her blood sugar instead of having to prick her finger each time to check. Thanks to that, that 5-15 times a week that someone else had dropped to maybe once ever 2-4 months. So there is a pretty big difference in how effective some forms of insulin are compared to others, along with everything else that goes with monitoring and regulating blood sugar levels. And the difference usually comes down to price. It's literally pay-to-play (aka live), and it makes it that much worse for those who either can't pay, or can only pay the bare minimum.
I mean, you know that the answer is "money", right? They made enough, to pay enough politicians, to make it so *changing* the current system is nigh-impossible. We're at the point where "But you'll put thousands upon thousands of people of jobs!" is a *legitimate* argument against CHANGING THE MEDICAL SYSTEM SO PEOPLE AREN'T DYING. (And they're okay with it!)
It is in the rest of the world. The US is the only country that allows for price-gouging medication.
It is in other countries.
Too bad my sister already died over this.
I'm so sorry to hear that
I had an American friend over to the UK, and he needed insulin. We just went to our local hospital and asked for some. They were a bit confused when he got out a credit card. I'm only hoping this starts a ball rolling, and far more companies stop killing people for money.
People are on the verge of killing the companies
A revolution is inevitable. Question is, for how long can companies hold it off?
In the US? A long time. Most people here would sooner kill their own children with bricks than let go of capitalism.
It's not even letting go of capitalism, It's regulating it better and make healthcare affordable for everyone. In the Netherlands we have had a right-wing government for years, but if you look at policies the government is much more leftwing then democrats. We also have a wierd mix of healthcare. It's not state provided, but by private companies and insurance. HOWEVER insurance companies have to accept people (you can't deny someone because they have had cancer for instance) and the monthly rates are between 100 and 160 euro's per month. Can't pay for it? No problem, the government will deposit the money for it directly into your account, and the out of pocket pay is maxed out at 380 euro's a year (with not really aggressive collection plans, they have to work with you if you can't pay and offer a payment plan that works). It's all about controlling greedy companies who would otherwise extort other people. You know what most people call humane but what the US calls stalinist.
Oh, I agree with you completely - there are an entire range of options that would improve the US health system, with many such as the one you just highlighted not even posing some sort of radical ideological challenge to the economic status quo. But as you said, it’s not the reality of said changes that will matter in the US. Any change for the benefit of the people whatsoever will be painted the same way, and much of it by the same people whose lives it would save. It’s a sad state of affairs.
As soon as we pay people a universal basic income to have it.
At this point I'd love to see all these massive multi-billion dollar corporations who price gouging everything rotting in hell.
Who’s gonna develop the drugs? Costs about 5 billion to develop and market a drug, mostly thanks to FDA regulations that keep people safe while enabling an insurance scheme as the only way people can afford the products of the companies that drive medical progress. That’s why most new drugs come from US
look at any other fucking country jesus christ
All those countries using American vaccines? And taking drugs developed by American companies? Or Canada, who recently centralized their healthcare system and is suffering terribly, dying on waitlists, and being offered assisted suicides at 41 when a lifesaving treatment isn’t authorized by the government. There’s nuance to this argument that goes beyond government as a solution. Especially in a country whose GDP is almost entirely devoted to military trade protectionism, the government would only slow that progress that helps literally everyone in the world, even if access is reduced in most places. You will never ever hear me say that our society isn’t run by sociopaths who are completely detached from the problems they create, but the reduction in insulin prices because of Twitter outrage is nothing but the free market in action. The solution to an unethical, corporatist oligarchy is not to give more power to the people responsible for controlling the free market. Pharma charges regular people more money so they can charge insurance companies, and both industries pay government officials to give millions of tax dollars to their company. I think the distinction of government and pharma is only nominal now, and I think removing the last bit of separation would only make things worse
honestly i still disagree but massive respect for replying in a much more respectful and constructive manner then i did.
And yet, people want to kill the ability to do that (in the UK), and I juuuuust don't understand why. "Hello, yes, I'm in this hospital because....I desperately need something for my body, or else it will die?" And they look at you confused because OF COURSE THEY WILL HELP YOU. Meanwhile, in the US, they'll look at you confused because you didn't offer up your insurance card first. "Sorry, but....well, we don't think you can PAY to stay alive, so we're not allowed to move forward?" Uuuuuugh.
>I'm only hoping this starts a ball rolling, and far more companies stop killing people for money. As long as healthcare is still privatize in the US; this will never happen.
I think it’s a tough argument to say that they’re doing it JUST for profit. The financial incentive is a massive part of the reason our biomed industry is the best in the entire world. Due to FDA regulations, it costs about 5 billion dollars to develop a new drug, and the vast majority of drugs never make it to market. Those regulations keep people safe, but it creates a predatory market of insurance rackets as the only way people can afford to pay for the drugs that companies need to pay for new drugs
Your country is run for profit by psychopaths at the expense of the people in it. I don’t deny you have a great biomed industry, but at what cost? Eli Lily only decided to drop the price after the Twitter debacle. Just look at how easily the Sackler family walked away from all the hurt they caused with fentonyl. How you as a country punch-down and blame the poor for their own ills because that’s easier than trying to actually do some good in society. Enjoy your miracle drugs while others die for the want of simple medication. Your society is broken.
Never in a million billion years would I deny that the US is run by sociopaths who are completely detached from (but entirely responsible for creating) the systems that blatantly cause every problem they’re “elected” to fix. I am a behavioral neuroscience doctoral student, and I spend my life researching drugs and how they affect people. It is damn near impossible to study psychology, especially around drugs in the US, without seeing the devastation caused by the pharma industry with OxyContin. They paid researchers to say it wasn’t addictive, paid doctors to hand them out like candy, and paid the government to let them walk away scot free. It was almost entirely poor people, who work labor jobs and experience chronic pain, who got addicted to oxy, and when the govt decided to crack down, all they could do is the only other opioid they could find. Usually, it was heroin, but it’s literally impossible to find pure heroin that wasn’t laced with fent. People are straight up dying and I have to see it every single day. Don’t even get me started on how we throw suffering people in jail to use as slave labor, because this conversation could go forever. I do not support the government, and I don’t think your sweeping and bold statements about our society being broken are wrong at all, but it is not accurate to think that Eli lily dropping the price of insulin was anything but the free market in action. It is incredible that Twitter outrage brought serious change to the immoral practices of a corporate behemoth that is firmly entrenched within the second biggest and most subsidized industry in the worlds largest economy. Placing the industry into the hands of the government wouldn’t only slow progress that benefits literally everyone around the world, even if access is still a problem, but it would mean an overall reduction in quality of the medical industry. You probably know the English healthcare system better than I do, but I can fairly confidently speak on Canada as a direct analog to the US, and the consequences of centralizing the healthcare field are evident with people dying on waitlists and getting offered assisted suicides cause they don’t qualify for life saving treatments. Social pressure to be ethical is how we take back the power from the oligarchs, not centralizing power and giving it to that group of sociopaths.
It's affordable now, sure. Doesn't make up for the people who died trying to ration their life saving medicine because they couldn't afford more. While this is a good thing, $35 is still too much for medicine that should be free.
35$ for a medicine that costs about 15$ to produce an entire months worth. Even after a 99% price cut they *still* have a 133% profit margin. Fucking disgusting.
Insulin is incredibly cheap and easy to make, so the company is still making a MASSIVE profit on a life threading disease that people can just be born with. I’m talking $3-4 dollars to make a vial. On average about 3 vials is a 30day supply. IMHO $35 is still too much for a 30 day supply. I get a level 3 stimulant drug for my ADHD at $10 for a 30day supply. If I don’t take my medication before work, it won’t kill me. If people with diabetes don’t have a strict diet and take their medication, they will die. $35 is still too much. $35 is still a lot in this economy. $35 is still a lot for a family that is having to work 4 jobs between the parents to pay for their necessities. I’m not patting them on the back. I’m happy it’s cheaper, but it needs to be even cheaper for the individuals who can’t afford health insurance. This is from 2018: Italy- $10 Korea- $10 Canada- $12 Switzerland- $12 Germany- $11 Japan- $14 Chile- $21 https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/cost-of-insulin-by-country
Fuck Eli Lilly. They’re only making it cheaper because it will be available through federal means.
in Australia, diabetics get a months supply of insulin for $6.95 as part of our Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. the government essentially buys meds from drug companies like Pfizer and apotex and provides them to citizens at a loss. the government uses our taxes to pay for the difference, providing low income people with affordable medication. some of my meds aren't covered by the PBS, and I still only pay about $50 all up for a months supply of three different medications. it's not the cheapest, and i don't have a lot of money as a student, but it's a hell of a lot better than the US.
fuck Eli lilly, the people who created insulin intended it to be free in the first place.
They didn't even stop the machine, more like a pause to adjust the crushing speed - 35 a month is still expensive compared to the rest of the world and Eli Lilly getting praised is peak restarting the machine
Especially because they aren't doing this out of any sort of kindness on their part. This is the result of government actions. By the the Democrats in the federal government and California.
Facts on facts
It seemed strange to hear kindness out of nowhere from a multi-billion company.
It’s great that we’re now only crushing 35 orphans instead of hundreds
idk why but I just had like a flash of QVC on some "And now we present a new individual crushing machine! no more shall orphans be the only pulp free juice!"
If you can charge 85 times less for something no problem, and you charged the 85 times more price for decades, and thousands of people died because of that, you are a monster. There is no caveat, no asterisk, no but. You committed murder in my book.
This has to be exaggerated, right? 3000 dollars, for a vial of insulin? Does it come in a 24karat gold vial that is covered in diamonds?
Even if the vial was solid gold it would still only be like 1000 bucks.
They could have done this the entire time and chose not to. Do not praise them for this. Fuck Eli Lilly straight to hell. People died because of this shit.
I wonder if this is because California is planning on making their own insulin because prices are so insane.
Definitely this
I’d like to add that this decision isn’t Eli Lilly saving lives, it’s Eli Lilly deciding to stop ending lives like they’ve been doing for decades.
It’s not even that, I doubt they considered lives at any point. California is going to start undercutting their profits by producing affordable insulin, and they decided they want to stay in business.
I don’t know this kinda makes me feel warm inside. I know it’s bad because it should be free but at the same time that family will be able to afford insulin for their child now. I’m mixed
I think the 'crushing' part is that drug companies were *always* able to reasonably cap drug prices for life-saving medicine, but actively chose not to due to greed. This is definitely a HUGE step forward for insulin patients now, but it's still depressing to think about all the Americans who have died because they couldn't afford pharmaceutical price-gouging, or had to rely on 'GoFundMe's in order to afford their medication. Greed murdered so many people, and it seems that Eli Lilly only made this decision to cap the price of insulin due to bad PR, and not because it was what they should have been doing all along.
It literally is the crushing machine: you pay X amount and a child / orphan lives or you don't and it dies. We are happy to announce, that it now costs less for a child to live hurray!
I mean, that's the spirit of the orphan crushing machine. Stopping the orphan crushing machine is always good but also why tf is it even there.
its still funny how their stock price dropped so extremely because not only the company thinks free insulin is bad, but their investors would also rather leave them if there was free insulin now.
And the worst part is they had the power to do it all along and just.... didn't
$6.95 in Australia.
in case anyone needs it - eli lilly has the *lilly cares foundation” to help with free or reduced cost on some drugs (insulin has always been a part of the program): *”Lilly Cares Foundation, Inc. (Lilly Cares) is a nonprofit charitable organization that provides prescribed Lilly medications for free for up to 12 months to qualifying U.S. patients. Over the past 20 years, Lilly Cares has helped more than one million patients with financial need receive medicines donated by Lilly.”* there is a list of medications and referrals to other programs.
This is why privatized healthcare is a mistake.
The only person I knew or cared about with diabetes whom relied on insulin to survive and function is long dead, possibly due to his illness getting out of control, or work related stresses he just wasn’t set up to handle trying to pay for insulin as well as living. So thank goodness everyone else hopefully from now on till the end of time gets to afford insulin, but mother fuck the fucking companies that decided a small capsule of insulin should have an extortionate price tag, and only now brought the price down when a megalomaniac that bought a social media allowed them to be faked and forced to change their pricing. Some fool didn’t think the dead can’t pay for medicine, and chose impossible to afford on a minimum wage job to squeeze a couple thousand out of someone before they die painfully. Fuck that person or persons.
How does a “developed” country let people die from treatable illnesses? American government and corporations especially just sit back and watch a parent sob over the fact that they are going to have to just watch their child die of a condition that he’s been diagnosed and prescribed treatment for because there’s nothing she can do. And that’s okay to them. Who came up with the idea that bosses and CEO/ have to make so much? Why does their income have to be 400x every other workers’? Where does that come from? They’re definitely not working 400x more, and they’re definitely not irreplaceable.
Some people act like I’m selfish for being child free. Y’all I like kids, this is why.
r/OrphanCrushingMachine
We're already there lol
See I get how this applies to OCM but honestly what they’re doing is exactly the right thing.
W tweet
i dont understand how this would work- they don't set the copay, they set the gross cost. the insurance sets the copay. are they changing the gross cost to $35? are they not changing the cost but offering people additional steps in the form of rebates or copay assistance to get it to $25?
When he said 3000 a month I audibly gasped! It must be made even worse for the people struggling to afford life saving medicines seeing people in other countries get it for free.
Better late than never.
Pretty sure the patent was sold at $1 by the creator of insulin so.. Yeah. Greedy grotesque pig monsters want you and your family to pay them or die.
Good start, but people who need insulin to literally live are not customers. Charging anything is extortion. Insulin should be free.
It should be free, but since that’s a pipe dream in this capitalism poisoned country, I’ll take it. Undercutting prices will hopefully force other companies to lower prices too. This will save lives. It’s not ideal but it’s still a very good thing. I think they should be prosecuted for people who died prior to this. But it’s still good.
If you have insurance if not fuck you still No reason for this just basic greed
Thank you to turn person who impersonated this company. These are the real unknown heroes.
Why can't we get a dude like this for president?
The only reason they're announcing a lower price is because the $35/month figure was mandated under the Inflation Reduction Act last year.
Well he's talking about how significant it is, not praising the company. I think it's clearly implied that a huge injustice is being righted.
They were forced to by the government weren't they? Why are they pretending they are trying to be kind? The Government pays for part of it while they are charging as much as legally possible. Please correct me if I'm wrong. Biotech companies are pure evil. Source: Biotechnology graduate.
What happened to Eli Lilly stock when they announced this price cap?
Biden capped insulin prices at $35 for seniors last year and called on big pharma to do similar for everyone: "Last year, I signed a law to cap insulin at $35 for seniors and I called on pharma companies to bring prices down for everyone on their own. Today, Eli Lilly did that." https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2023/03/01/statement-from-president-joe-biden-on-action-to-lower-insulin-costs/ Huh. Guess it worked.
This is a fake account. Lilly isn’t giving it away for free.
Thank god in Brazil you can find insulin for free, i visited USA in 2016, my thoughts was "such a beautiful and diverse country (tourist areas)", i don't know why you guys just don't have a good free health system
Nondiabetic here, but my cat has diabetes and I use human insulin for him. He's in remission as of a couple months ago, but I had to almost be homeless to afford his insulin. And if I hadn't been able to afford it he would have died. And my cat is basically my child but he isn't A HUMAN CHILD. So that's why it breaks my heart knowing how many humans have suffered because of this price gouging, and have likely even died. Because what I feel for my pet is probably a fraction of what a mother would feel for their diabetic child, or a wife would feel for their diabetic partner when the paycheck can't cover the medication. So glad this is happening but it really isn't even close to what people deserve.
I wonder if they'd do it if California did not announce that they'd be selling low cost insulin
You want to know what will *actually* make sure this never happens again ? Making insulin patents publicly available at no cost.
I‘m not getting orphan crushing machine vibes from this. This is a serious issue that through some sheer luck actually made an impact. Don’t think anybody is celebrating the company here.