California aims to produce inexpensive insulin

By Brian Buntz | January 11, 2022

Photo by Nataliya Vaitkevich from Pexels

California Governor Gavin Newsom has signaled that the state would pursue manufacturing insulin to offer the hormone at a reduced cost to people with diabetes.

“Insulin should not drain your bank account,” Newsom shared over Twitter.

Newsom has also made contract manufactured insulin part of the proposed budget planning for the fiscal year 2022.

The plan is not entirely new. Newsom hinted the state was interested in contract manufacturing insulin in 2020 and creating a Califonia-based generic drug label.

The California legislature estimates that roughly 263,000 Californians are diagnosed with type 1 diabetes annually and that more than 4 million Californian adults have diabetes.

The legislature also concluded that one-quarter of people on insulin have reported underusing it owing to cost.

A single vial of some mixed insulins can cost more than $300, according to GoodRx Health.

About The Author

Brian Buntz

The pharma and biotech editor of WTWH Media, Brian is a veteran journalist with more than 15 years of experience covering an array of life science topics, including clinical trials, drug discovery and development and medical devices. Before coming to WTWH, he served as content director focused on connected devices at Informa. In addition, Brian covered the medical device sector for 10 years at UBM. At Qmed, he overhauled the brand’s news coverage and helped to grow the site’s traffic volume dramatically. He had previously held managing editor roles on two of the company’s medical device technology publications. Connect with him on LinkedIn or email at bbuntz@wtwhmedia.com.