The three companies that dominate the global market for insulin have launched various programs to expand the reach of their medicines in dozens of low and middle-income countries — but their efforts remain patchy and equitable access consequently remains out of reach, according to a new analysis.
Too often, the manufacturers — Eli Lilly, Sanofi, and Novo Nordisk — do not understand the extent to which the public and private sectors in many poorer countries can afford insulin, the report found. But a more troubling issue is that the companies failed to register their products — both the older human form of insulin and newer analogue varieties — with regulators in many countries.
At least one human insulin and one analogue insulin are registered in 74 countries, out of 108 low- and middle-income countries analyzed. But 10 countries only have human insulin registered and 24 countries have no insulin registered. Moreover, all types of insulin that appear on the Essential List of Medicines issued by the World Health Organization are available in just 29 countries.
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