Drugmakers to cap insulin prices for uninsured New Yorkers in settlement with AG
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Insulin prices for uninsured New Yorkers will be capped at $35 per month under an agreement between two top drugmakers and Attorney General Letitia James' office.
The price cap for insulin made by Eli Lilly and Sanofi-Aventis will remain in place for five years and is expected to impact thousands of New Yorkers. Overall, about 464,000 New Yorkers rely on insulin every day and 1 million people in the state are uninsured, according to James and the Community Service Society.
The deal comes after Eli Lilly and Sanofi previously announced separately that they would both be capping out-of-pocket costs for commercially insured consumers nationally at $35 per month, as federal and state lawmakers and patient advocates pressure drug companies and health insurers to improve affordability for the lifesaving medication used by millions of Americans.
“Lifesaving medication should be affordable and accessible for all New Yorkers regardless of their income or insurance status,” James said in a statement Tuesday announcing the agreement.
Why drugmakers capped insulin prices in NY
As part of the deal, Lilly and Sanofi also agreed to implement a process that would allow pharmacies to automatically advise cash-paying consumers of their ability to fill their monthly prescription for $35, before leaving the pharmacy counter, James noted.
Lilly has also agreed to continue working with national relief agencies to identify high-need geographical locations throughout New York and to offer insulin products free of charge, James added. The effort would get the drug to more eligible non-profit clinics in those high-need locations. Sanofi has also agreed to offer free insulin to the neediest consumers who meet income thresholds tied to the federal poverty line.
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The agreement stemmed from an investigation by James' office into rising insulin prices in the past.
Among the findings:
From 2002 to 2013, the average list prices for insulin products from all manufacturers nearly tripled.
For a person with Type 1 diabetes, annual spending on insulin averaged $2,864 in 2012, and that spending increased to an average of $5,705 in 2016.
These dramatic cost increases were not driven by insulin manufacturing costs, which by one estimate would be no more than $133 per person per year.
New Yorkers who live in the state’s poorest neighborhoods are 70% more likely to have diabetes. In fact, more than 16% of New York adults with diabetes have an annual household income of less than $25,000, while only 6% have an annual household income of more than $50,000.
Lilly noted the deal in New York "reinforces (its) commitment to ensure that New Yorkers with diabetes have affordable access" to its insulins, the company said in a statement. Sanofi didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
USA TODAY contributed to this report.
This article originally appeared on New York State Team: Insulin price cap: Drugmakers, NY AG reach agreement for uninsured
