Hacker News Reader

Comment by JoshTko | Hacker News Reader

Why has insulin prices gone up then?

greed. the patent was donated to the public domain back when synthisis was discoverd but since the manufacturers have taken up tweaking it patenting that tweak then charging more and more. other countries dont have this problem with insulin. thats why you hear about people going to Canada and Mexico to get meds cheap.

If the old insulin works just as well, and is basically free, why is everyone paying through the nose for the newly patented stuff?

"old insulin" pre-~1980 was made from grinding up animal (cow, pig) pancreas and extracting a tiny amount of pure insulin through a chemical extraction process. Wikipedia posts a ratio of 2 tons of animal matter to 8 oz of insulin. It was "easy" but didn't scale up very well.

because they dont make it anymore

They do, you can still buy it for cheap. It's not the same though, the new stuff works much faster.

> because they don’t make it anymore

They do, you can buy it at Walmart cheaply.

Nobody has used that type of insulin for decades.

Insulin is not the same insulin that was first created - they have modified it with improvements to make the metabolic process much smoother.

That's cool. So you can still buy the cheaper original formulation?

yes, i believe it is like $25 at walmart. even the older synthetics are similarly priced if you don't have a prescription

Yes, you can buy a months supply for 30$ at Walmart

Because it's not just plain insulin. Insulin, for the miracle drug that it is, doesn't work for everyone equally. Depending on personal dietary habits, unique pharmacokinetic responses, how far diabetes has progressed... sometimes it lowers blood glucose too quickly or for too long or too short a time. So they've developed a hundred different formulations, and doctors basically just keep trying new ones until the patient gets the results they're both after. These new formulations cost more than plain insulin. They're almost all patentable and no generics are available. Wouldn't be shocked if old-style plain insulin hasn't (more or less) just followed inflation.

I think that’s a function of consumers switching to newer variants and injectors. Basic insulin in a vial retails for like 2 Cents a unit.

Has it? Keep in mind that there's always been constant inflation, and that people keep earning more money per hour worked even after inflation, and that products tend to get better - even insulin is now better than before.

Why smartphone prices have gone up? Or GPU prices...

With insulin it is not same, but new better or changed product. Similar insulin to past is not that highly priced.

Cos market consolidation and collusion is a more powerful force than technological progress.

Which insulin?

The ones descended from Banting, Best, and MacLeod's original invention

You can get human insulin from Walmart for 25 a vial without a prescription.

Insulin analogs are most prescribed and subject to pricing issues. Particularly important to those with insulin resistance.

Nobody has used those for years. New engineered insulins like Novolog have been going down in price for years. They can make tons of it now.

It hasn't.

Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of the Market! How unsearchable are His judgments and decisions and how unfathomable and untraceable are His ways!

Greed. Late-stage capitalism. Private Equity.

Pick one - heck, pick any of the three - or all of them at the same time.

It didn't in the most of the world. It did only in the USA cause america can't into free market

Reply on news.ycombinator.com