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US Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) announced legislation on Thursday that would limit the list price of insulin to no more than $20 per vial, marking the latest effort by the former presidential candidate to keep drug prices in check.
The move comes days after Eli Lilly (New York Stock Exchange: LLY) said the company would reduce the prices of Humalog and other brands of insulin by 70% and announced an expanded program to limit out-of-pocket insulin costs to $35 or less for some consumers.
Introducing the “Insulin for All” bill with Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO), Sanders said, “In 1923, the inventors of insulin sold their patents for $1 to save lives, not convert pharmaceutical executives. into billionaires.”
The bill will “put an end to companies greed”, Sanderswho also serves as chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP), he added.
“We can no longer tolerate a rigged healthcare system that forced 1.3 million people with diabetes to ration insulin while the top three insulin manufacturers made $21 billion dollars in profit.”
Notable insulin manufacturers: Eli Lilly (LLY), Sanofi (NASDAQ:SNY), and Novo Nordisk (NVO)
In recent weeks, Sanders has intensified his rhetoric against drug companies. In February, he announced that Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel would testify before the HELP committee on March 22 in the wake of the biotech’s plan to quadruple the price of the COVID-19 vaccine.
Read: Seeking Alpha contributor Marcel Knoop issued a hold rating for Novo (NVO) in February, noting that the Danish drugmaker is the “only pure play in the diabetes and obesity care space” .
