Novo Nordisk to slash U.S. insulin prices by up to 75%, following move by Eli Lilly

Novo Nordisk connected Tuesday announced plans to slash the terms of respective insulin drugs by up to 75% successful the U.S., becoming the latest drugmaker to marque crisp terms cuts aft years of nationalist outrage implicit the precocious outgo of diabetes care. 

Novo Nordisk, one of the world's biggest insulin makers, volition chopped the database terms of its NovoLog insulin by 75% and the prices for Levemir and Novolin by 65%, the institution said successful a property release. The terms changes volition spell into effect connected Jan. 1, 2024. They volition screen insulins that travel successful vials and injection pens.

NovoLog's database terms volition autumn to $139.71 from $558.83 for a battalion of 5 injection pens. For a vial, the terms volition alteration to $72.34 from $289.36. 

The institution besides said it plans to trim the database terms of its unbranded insulin products to lucifer the lowered terms of each respective branded insulin. 

"We person been moving to make a sustainable way guardant that balances diligent affordability, marketplace dynamics, and evolving argumentation changes," Steve Albers, Novo Nordisk's elder vice president of marketplace entree and nationalist affairs, said successful the release. "Novo Nordisk remains committed to ensuring patients surviving with diabetes tin spend our insulins, a work we instrumentality seriously."

A Novo Nordisk spokesperson besides told CNBC that the terms cuts "have been successful improvement for galore months, but owed to accrued stakeholder interest, we accelerated to denote now."

Novo Nordisk's actions were archetypal reported by the Wall Street Journal.

The announcement comes 2 weeks aft drugmaker Eli Lilly said it would cut the prices of its astir commonly prescribed insulins by 70% and grow a $35 monthly headdress connected patients' out-of-pocket costs starting successful the 4th quarter. Novo Nordisk, Lilly and Sanofi power over 90% of the planetary insulin market. 

The determination besides comes aft insulin manufacturers faced years of unit from lawmakers to marque the life-saving hormone much affordable for radical with diabetes. The Inflation Reduction Act capped monthly insulin costs for Medicare beneficiaries astatine $35 per monthly prescription, but fell abbreviated of providing extortion to diabetes patients who are covered by backstage insurance.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Vermont autarkic and president of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, earlier this period introduced a bill that would headdress the database terms of insulin astatine $20 per vial.

High prices person forced galore Americans to ration insulin oregon trim their usage of the drug. A study successful the Annals of Internal Medicine recovered that successful 2021, astir 1 successful 5 U.S. adults either skipped, delayed oregon utilized little insulin to prevention money.

About 37 cardinal radical successful the U.S., oregon 11.3% of the country's population, person diabetes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.