California/Newsom Want To Produce Their Own Insulin(Channeling Cuomo?)

[Oklazona Bound]

Originally Posted by FordBronco1967

Have you ever considered that insulin is expensive because its ingredients are expensive?

To make it cheaper would mean cutting costs. First of all, to cut costs, the last place you reduce cost is by manufacturing in California. Second, it would involve cheaper ingredients. Is that really how you want your medicine formulated?

Seems like it could be cheaper here. I know the knee jerk reaction from the far right is to be against anything California does and this new idea by Newsom could easily be a disaster but why is it so much more costly here? Any ideas why? And if its simply price gouging this is one instance where I fine with the government getting involved and stopping that. But it seems like government made insulin is not the solution. But the left is preoccupied with January 6th and the right with whatever faux paus Joe Biden did in whatever speech he made today or if he fell off his bike.

Top 10 Countries Where Insulin is Most Expensive (2018 RAND Corporation):

1. United States — $98.70
2. Chile — $21.48
3. Mexico — $16.48
4. Japan — $14.40
5. Switzerland — $12.46
6. Canada — $12.00
7. Germany — $11.00
8. Korea — $10.30
9. Luxembourg — $10.15
10. Italy — $10.03

The study revealed that the manufacturer price for any given type of insulin averaged five to ten times higher in the U.S. ($98.70 USD) than in all other OECD countries ($8.81 on average). Even when using net prices, which incorporate possible rebates, U.S. prices would be roughly four times higher than in other countries. The combined top ten are shown above, and the full data for every country and type of insulin appear in the table further down this page.

[cdnirene]

Originally Posted by Mathguy

California has profit caps on a number of products (like auto and home insurance) so why not just put a profit cap on insulin?

That's essentially what Canada does, they make the rest of the world (mainly the US) pay the development costs and then uses their monopoly buying power to get cheaper drugs.

Not true. From an article dated January 2021:

The study found that among G7 nations, the United Kingdom, France, and Italy generally have the lowest prescription drug prices, while Canada, Germany, and Japan tend to have higher prices.

Prescription drug prices in the United States are significantly higher than in other nations, with prices in the United States averaging 2.56 times those seen in 32 other nations, according to a new RAND Corporation report.

The gap between prices in the United States and other countries is even larger for brand-named drugs, with U.S. prices averaging 3.44 times those in comparison nations.

The RAND study found that prices for unbranded generic drugs—which account for 84% of drugs sold in the United States by volume but only 12% of U.S. spending—are slightly lower in the United States than in most other nations.

https://www.rand.org/news/press/2021/01/28.html

From a related article: https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR2956.html

U.S. prices ranged from 170 percent of prices in Mexico to 779 percent of prices in Turkey.

By the way, a lot of new drugs are developed outside of the U.S.

[anononcty]

Another cheaper choice for the consumer is good. But can the state/tax payers sustain this program especially when California just announced they want to allow illegals to get insurance and care. Right now because of unused covid stimulus money and ignoring long term/pension debts it seems feasible. They might be better subbing this program out.

They want to spend 50 million on this. Wouldn't spending a couple million a year on bulk purchases just for the state help as much? I don't see sustainability trying to take 100% control and responsibility for the program.