Nevada lawmakers react as pharmaceutical company cuts insulin prices

LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — The cost of insulin has been a hot topic for years.

According to a White House spokesperson, insulin costs less than $10 to make but Americans are sometimes forced to pay over $300 for it.

Now, people are feeling some financial relief.

This week, pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly announced it's reducing prices by 70% for its most commonly prescribed insulins and expanding its Insulin Value Program that caps patient out-of-pocket costs at $35 a month. The company said those changes can go into effect as early as April.

"We are driving for change in repricing older insulins, but we know that seven out of 10 Americans don't use Lilly insulin," Lilly's Chair and CEO David A. Ricks said. "Our work to discover new and better treatments is far from over. We won't stop until all people with diabetes are in control of their disease and can get the insulin they need."

This comes after insulin was capped at $35 a month for seniors on Medicare as part of the Inflation Reduction Act, which was signed into law last year.

In his State of the Union address, President Biden said more needed to be done.

Here in Nevada, the CDC estimates that 9.6%. or about 238,000 people have been diagnosed with diabetes.

Last July, U.S. Senators Jacky Rosen and Catherine Cortez Masto co-sponsored the Affordable Insulin Now Act, which failed to pass the Senate. The proposal would have capped insulin costs and at the time, Cortez Masto told Channel 13 it was an issue that needed to be addressed.

"It's the comfort of knowing you can access the medications when you need it. It's the comfort of knowing that it's there and you don't have any worries about it," Cortez Masto said. "When the price fluctuates and it's out of your control or your price range, they you're rationing. That is the worst position for anybody to be in."

With more financial relief on the way for people who use insulin, Nevada lawmakers said it's about time.