The original purpose of insulin was to save the lives of millions of people who had diabetes, but giant corporations realized that when it comes to life and death, people are willing to spend thousands of dollars. This was a huge business opportunity. So corporations shifted their focus from public well-being to making money. Today, one vile costs around 2:00 to $6 to produce. However, the average price for one vial of insulin is about $300.00. These corporations have a very straightforward policy if you want to live buy insulin at the price decided by them.
If you cannot afford it, you do have Toronto for just the dollar. Little did they know, their greatest invention would turn into one of the most profitable businesses in the world. One of the few outsiders, an insulin medication. However, every little progression contributing to the advancements has been patented by these companies. To prevent other manufacturers from developing insulin. Thanks to Evergreening, these three companies controlled 90% of the world's supply of insulin, despite all of it generic insulin has been developed by other manufacturers. However, they get paid by major producers to not produce and sell their insulin in the market. This strategy is known as the pay for delay agreement. This arrangement makes it legal for one manufacturer to pay another manufacturer to not become a competitor by answering the market leading to little to no affordable alternatives.
However, there is one more factor responsible for driving up the prices. You're not wrong. When you blame manufacturers for the price increase. Having said that, there's one more force that is equally responsible for this problem. I am talking about pharmacy benefit manager. Let me explain their role through a very simplified example. If you made a drug for $5, you may set the price at $10 to create a $5 profit. Let's say you want to expand and their man more middleman will prioritize their product as they are making more money through its sale. So to kick your competitors out, you start giving your middleman a bigger cut of your profits. This results in a bidding war while people foot the bill. You know that if people want to live, they need to buy your drug. So to make more money, you keep on increasing the price of middleman and ensure that people don't have any other option other than to buy your product further worsening the situation. The best part? It's all legal PBM's were created to ensure efficient delivery of drugs to patients, but unfortunately that efficient delivery has turned out to be very expensive. In July 2013, Santa Fe offered a 2 to 4% rebate for preferred. Policeman on a formulary the same product in 2018 provided a 56% rebate. This is one example but other manufacturers might be doing the same. If the selling price of a vial is $200.00 more than 50% of it goes to a company that doesn't even make it. 45% of it goes to the manufacturer and 5% of the selling price is what it takes to make a vial.
The US health care system is deeply broken, little to no steps are being taken to fix the problem, and people in high places support the price increase. The issue is specific to the United States. The government lacks the control on drug prices and the complex insurance system leaves people under or uninsured.
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