Referenews

The company also said that on May 1 it would reduce the list price of an unbranded insulin it sells to $25 a vial from $82 a vial, the lowest level for any insulin that diabetes patients take around mealtimes, and less than Lilly’s list price for a Humalog vial in 1999. And it plans to improve a program capping patients’ out-of-pocket costs at $35 a month.

“The aggressive price cuts we’re announcing today should make a real difference for Americans with diabetes,” said Lilly Chief Executive

David Ricks.

The list-price cuts won’t necessarily mean that all people with diabetes will see a corresponding decrease in their out-of-pocket costs for Lilly’s insulin. Many insured patients pay fixed monthly copays that may not immediately change.

Some insured and uninsured patients whose out-of-pocket costs exceed $35 a month should be able to benefit, however, from the changes Lilly is making to its program capping monthly costs.

The American Diabetes Association praised Lilly for its moves and said it encouraged other insulin manufacturers to follow suit.

T1International, an organization advocating for people with Type 1 diabetes, also applauded Lilly’s efforts, but said even Lilly’s reduced list prices may still keep the products out of reach for some patients.

Drugmakers including Lilly,

Novo Nordisk

A/S and

Sanofi SA

substantially raised the prices for their insulin products during the 2010s.  

Now the products cost hundreds of dollars a month. Humalog currently has a list price of $530 for a five-pack of injection pens and $274 for a vial, though Lilly said most people with commercial insurance and Medicare pay no more than $95 a month.

The manufacturers have said that, while list prices increased, they have had to pay larger rebates to companies that manage drug benefits. 

Yet because of the high prices, people without insurance or with high-deductible health plans can have trouble affording the products, forcing them to ration use. 

To ease the burden, some U.S. states have enacted insulin-cost caps in recent years. Last year’s Inflation Reduction Act mandated that patients covered by the federal Medicare health-insurance program should pay no more than $35 a month in copays or other out-of-pocket costs for an insulin prescription. 

In his State of the Union speech in February, President Biden called for that $35 monthly cap to be expanded beyond Medicare to include every diabetes patient.

Mr. Biden praised Lilly on Wednesday, after the company announced its moves. “It’s a big deal, and it’s time for other manufacturers to follow,” he said.

Sanofi has a savings program to help people reduce their diabetes-drug prescription costs, a company spokesman said. The program limits costs for most patients who are commercially insured to $15 or less a month. People without insurance can also get Sanofi insulin at reduced prices or free, the spokesman said.

In addition to reducing the list prices for its top-selling insulins, Lilly said it would introduce on April 1 a new insulin, named Rezvoglar, that is a copycat version of Sanofi’s Lantus insulin. Lilly will list its price at $92 for a five-pack of injection pens, a 78% discount to the list price for Lantus.

The company said it would make improvements to its program, introduced in 2020, to cap insulin out-of-pocket costs at $35 a month. Participating pharmacies will now implement that cap automatically when people with commercial insurance fill their prescriptions, rather than requiring people to present a Lilly savings card.

People without insurance can continue to cap monthly costs at $35 for Lilly insulin products by using a savings card that can be downloaded immediately online, the company said.

Mr. Ricks said Lilly has been planning these moves for a while, and Lilly incorporated the effect on insulin sales in its prior forecast for 2023 sales and earnings. The company, which also makes non-insulin diabetes drugs and cancer treatments, expects 2023 sales of up to $30.8 billion, about 8% higher than 2022.

He said he expects Lilly’s insulin products to continue to have favorable coverage on the preferred drug lists of pharmacy-benefit managers and insurers.

Write to Peter Loftus at Peter.Loftus@wsj.com