California Announces $100 Million Program to Develop, Make Cheap Insulin
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California Governor Gavin Newsom announced on Thursday that the Golden State would begin manufacturing its own insulin - the latest effort in the state’s attempt to make the diabetes drug more affordable.
"Nothing epitomizes market failure more than the cost of insulin," Newsom said in a Thursday statement. "Many Americans experience out-of-pocket costs anywhere from $300 to $500 per month for this life-saving drug."
California is going to make its own insulin.
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) July 7, 2022
It’s simple. People should not go into debt to get life-saving medication. pic.twitter.com/yB4mpGjtQO
Newsom’s program will set aside $100 million to contract for the effort; half will go to developing low-cost insulin products and the other to build a factory in the Pacific coastal state for producing it. He said the contractor would produce insulin “at a cheaper price, close to at-cost.”
According to Newsom’s office, roughly 4 million Californians have been diagnosed with diabetes, a group of metabolic disorders characterized by abnormally high concentrations of sugar in the bloodstream. The most common cause is a failure by the pancreas to produce insulin or for the body to respond to the insulin it produced, which is necessary to break down sugar for the body to use.
Without a regular supplement of insulin, the shortage can induce diabetic ketoacidosis, a condition that without treatment almost invariably leads to death. However, even with treatment, it can destroy internal organs and cause loss of eyesight or require the amputation of limbs. Diabetes was the seventh-leading cause of death in the US in 2019, with 87,647 Americans dying of the disease.
Manufacturing insulin is already cheap to do, costing about $10 per vial to make. However, the trio of pharmaceutical companies that make insulin in the US - Eli Lilly, Sanofi, and Novo Nordisk - have steadily increased the price, charging up to 30 times the cost of production.
Sabrina Caudillo, a 24-year-old college student who lives in La Puente, told the Los Angeles Times last month that she felt like a “prisoner” to the pharmaceutical industry after being diagnosed with diabetes in 2017.
“I remember crying my eyes out at CVS and realizing it’s going to be like this for the rest of my life,” she said, explaining that even with insurance, she still has trouble affording her insulin supplies and paying for the insurance itself.
“This disease is really expensive, and I’m barely making it every month,” Caudillo added.
US President Joe Biden has pushed for Congress to pass a law limiting insurance co-pays for insulin to $35, although nothing has been done yet on Capitol Hill.
Some have speculated that Newsom, also a Democrat, could become a challenger to Biden in the 2024 US presidential race if the incumbent seeks a second term. The Wall Street Journal declared on Wednesday that barbs traded online between Newsom and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who is seen as a likely Republican contender in 2024, constituted the beginning of Newsom's campaign.
