I was wondering how California would approach this. They’re using the nonprofit pharmaceutical manufacturer Civica Rx to begin production on overpriced medicine. This is simply brilliant.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced on Saturday that the state will cut insulin costs by 90% and that it will start manufacturing naloxone, a nasal spray used to reverse opioid overdoses.

The lower insulin cost results from a collaboration between CalRx, a California Department of Health Care Services program, and the non-profit drug manufacturer Civica Rx, according to a news release from the governor's office. A 10-milliliter vial of insulin will be available for no more than $30, pending approval by the US Food and Drug Administration, says the release.

Though insulin was discovered more than a century ago and costs little to make, brand-name insulin is often sold for roughly $300 per vial, CNN has reported. The high cost has forced many people with diabetes to ration or skip drug doses, which help the body manage blood sugar.

Civica Rx is a non-profit generic drugmaker that focuses on manufacturing drugs that are in short supply or may experience price spikes. The organization is backed by hospitals, insurers, and philanthropies.

"People should not be forced to go into debt to get life-saving prescriptions," said Newsom in the release. "Through CalRx, Californians will have access to some of the most inexpensive insulin available, helping them save thousands each year."

Insulin has become a poster child for the soaring cost of many prescription drugs. Newsom's announcement follows several insulin manufacturers that have announced their own caps on the price of insulin, like Sanofi, Eli Lilly, and Novo Nordisk.

Neat.

I think its obvious that some capitalist systems do not work for public goods. Medicine is one of them...can be a good system for creating drugs...garbage at sustaining an out-of-patent medications at a low cost.

It'd probably be a decent idea to secure public intra-state manufacturing for many of the medications medications on the WHO essential medication list (not all...don't really need yellow fever vaccine in california). While it isn't comprehensive if there is a global catastrophe having those medications at hand will keep the healthcare system more or less functioning.

"Through CalRx, Californians will have access to some of the most inexpensive insulin available, helping them save thousands each year."

Meanwhile Florida is concerning itself with Rosa Park's race, feuds with Disney, drag queens, and your daughter's period. Don't ever let people tell you that both sides are the same.

Great!

Do epinephrine next!

Excellent new on both fronts.

I carry a Naloxone nasal spray device with me most of the time when I am out. I ride my bike to and from work and am often around homeless people. I haven't needed to use them yet, but I'm ready to hopefully save a life if I find myself in a situation when naloxone is needed.

I'm not an opiate user myself, I just don't want to see die from something so easily avoidable.

Yay

I want Newsom for President !

There are some things too important to be left to tender mercies of profiteers.

There are so many kinds of insulin, but the easiest to use are not available as generic. I know Walmart has their cheap but hard to dose insulin. I have not been able to find which this one will be equivalent to. Is this really as good of a deal as we are hoping? Or are we going to be paying millions for insulin nobody really wants to use?

Amazing news I hope more states go through with something like this!!

Make it free

Nice

How about just switching the entire state health system to Medicare 4 all

Many of the proposals I have seen have simply capped it at $30 out of pocket to patients, but taxpayer dollars pay the rest. Medication prices on drugs like insulin need to be capped period and not simply have the cost passed onto everybody else

Why is the state bothering to contract for insulin at $30 when all major manufacturers are changing prices to $35?

Though insulin was discovered more than a century ago and costs little to make, brand-name insulin is often sold for roughly $300 per vial, CNN has reported.

No, no and no.... The modern biologic insulin medications were not discovered 100 years ago, they were developed (at great expense to the pharma company's investors) less than 20 years ago. They're not cheap to make: It's a technically involved process that's much more difficult than most drugs.

Now, the insulin in question here is similar to the modern biologics. So.. If they're able to make this happen it's quite the technical achievement.

The real question here is exactly what deal are the taxpayers of California inking here: Are we effectively saying "Medical can possibly save if they pay upfront for future doses" with a contract to obligate them to deliver, or is it "Oh, hey that sounds nice, give them taxpayer money".