Article

A Radical Treatment for Insulin Pricing

Leemore S. Dafny
New England Journal of Medicine

In 2021, the Food and Drug Administration approved the first interchangeable biosimilar insulin product that could be substituted for insulin glargine (long-acting insulin). Interchangeable biosimilars have the potential to substantially reduce spending on biological products, similar to generic versions of small-molecule brand name medications. However, when deductibles were reset at the beginning of 2022, the list price of the insulin biosimilar was only 5% less than the brand name insulin. In the Perspective article “A Radical Treatment for Insulin Pricing,” Partner Leemore Dafny opines that a regulatory or disruptive business fix is needed to address such costs and suggests that such a fix could better derive from the private than from the public sector.

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