WASHINGTON — Eli Lilly would’ve had to pay Medicaid about $150 for each vial of insulin used in the program if it hadn’t dramatically cut the list prices for some of its older products this week.
The company was about to run into a Medicaid penalty for hiking the price of its drugs faster than the rate of inflation. Now that it plans to lower the list price of the insulin Humalog 70%, it won’t trigger that penalty. Lilly also is lowering the price of Lispro, a biosimilar of Humalog, to $25 a vial.
It’s an upside for Lilly that has been largely overlooked since the Indianapolis-based pharma giant announced the policy change Wednesday. Company executives said they lowered prices to make insulin more available to people with diabetes, especially those “who may have difficulty navigating a complex health care system that may keep them from getting affordable insulin.” President Biden, who tweeted about the “huge news” shortly after Lilly’s announcement, credited the drug pricing legislation Democrats passed last fall.
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