Alex Brill: Trends In The US Insulin Market: New Prices, New Players, New Dynamics

"In effect, the era of high list prices and high rebates for insulin is over"

In case you missed it, Alex Brill, founder and CEO of Matrix Global Advisors (MGA) and former policy director and chief economist for the House Committee on Ways and Means, examines how the insulin market has changed - for the betterment of patients - over the years, underscoring how competition from the free market is working to deliver savings for patients:

"The insulin market has become more competitive, and more products competing for the same patients foster new price pressures on manufacturers. At the end of 2021, Semglee, a biosimilar of Lantus marketed by Biocon Biologics, entered the US market. Last April, another Lantus biosimilar, Rezvoglar (Eli Lilly), launched. Both biosimilars are interchangeable with Lantus, allowing pharmacists to substitute them for Lantus without a doctor's involvement…In addition to the two currently available Lantus biosimilars, there are six additional Lantus biosimilars in various stages of development. Further, biosimilars for Humalog, NovoLog, and Toujeo are all in the development pipeline, including products from five manufacturers without a currently marketed insulin."

Read Brill's full blog HERE.

Due to increased competition, which is leveraged by PBMs to secure discounts and rebates, the insulin market has actually seen lower costs for patients. Brill points out:

"According to IQVIA, "Across all patients, benefit design changes combined with the availability of biosimilars are contributing to falling insulin costs."'

Brill also highlights how Big Pharma companies have the sole pricing power to lower the list price of the drugs they create, and their recent actions to address growing congressional and public scrutiny over insulin prices underscore that:

"In the last few years, the insulin market has changed in important ways. First, the list price of insulin has collapsed. In March 2023, the three major manufacturers-Eli Lilly (maker of Humalog and the follow-on biologic Basaglar), Novo Nordisk (maker of Levemir, Novolin, and NovoLog), and Sanofi (maker of Lantus and Toujeo)-announced that they would drop the list prices of their products by 65-78 percent. The price cut for Humalog went into effect May 1, 2023, while the other cuts became effective January 1, 2024. In the fourth quarter of 2023, Eli Lilly reported a decline in US revenue for Humalog of 50 percent compared to the same period in 2022. In effect, the era of high list prices and high rebates for insulin is over."

Brill concludes how the insulin market continues to evolve, which is great for patients:

"Taken together, these trends have yielded an insulin market that is quite different than it was just five years ago. This is good news for patients who rely on insulin and good news for drug competition."

Learn more about what PBMs are doing to lower the costs of insulin products HERE.

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PCMA is the national association representing America's pharmacy benefit companies. Pharmacy benefit companies are working every day to secure savings, enable better health outcomes, and support access to quality prescription drug coverage for more than 275 million patients.

Learn more at www.pcmanet.org

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