California will begin manufacturing its own low-cost insulin to try to make essential diabetes treatment more affordable, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Thursday.
“Nothing represents market failures more than the cost of insulin,” the governor said in a video posted on Twitter: “Many Americans experience out-of-pocket costs between three hundred and five hundred dollars a month for this drug. that saves lives. “
With a budget of $ 100 million, California plans to “hire and manufacture our own insulin at a cheaper, cost-effective price and make it available to everyone,” Newsom said. It is unclear exactly how cheap California insulin will be or when low-cost medications will be available.
Insulin in the US costs almost $ 100 per unit, on average. That’s almost four times the price of Chile, which has the second-highest price among the 34 countries analyzed by the nonprofit Rand Corporation, with less than $ 25 per unit.
Currently, four out of five Americans who need insulin have incurred thousands of dollars in credit card debts to pay for the drug, according to a recent survey commissioned by the health organization CharityRx. The average debt among all survey participants was $ 9,000.
The California program will allocate $ 50 million to the development of cheaper insulin products and $ 50 million to a state-owned insulin manufacturing facility, Newsom said, adding that the facility “It will offer well-paid new jobs and a stronger supply chain for medicines.”
It is unclear if any other state plans to follow suit. In March, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Affordable Insulin Act now, which would limit the cost of an insulin pocket to $ 35 a month for Americans with private health insurance and the benefit of drugs with Medicare prescription. The bill has yet to be passed in the Senate.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 37.3 million people in the United States have diabetes. California has an especially high rate of new cases of diabetes, which mainly affects minorities, the elderly, men and low-income people, according to the governor’s office.
“Now California is taking matters into our own hands,” Newsom said. “Because in California, we know people shouldn’t go into debt to receive life-saving drugs.”
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