Indiana has a drug (company) problem: Insulin is increasingly inaccessible for those who need it
It is a bright and sunny autumn Saturday afternoon. Across Indiana, people gather on the sidelines of kids’ soccer games and tailgate outside of college football stadiums. The people walking down South Delaware Street in pairs and small groups are dressed in t-shirts and jeans, and carry brightly-colored signs. They look to be headed for a relaxing outing, too.
But as they approach their destination a few blocks from downtown, the looks on their faces became more visible. So do the words and images on their signs.
They are not relaxed.
Their destination was the corporate headquarters of Eli Lilly and Company, one of three global manufacturers of insulin. In near lockstep with the other two manufacturers, Lilly has raised the price of its insulin by over 300 percent over the past seven years, and over 1,000 percent since the late 1990s. A patient’s out-of-pocket cost for a month’s supply of Eli Lilly’s Humalog can run to over $400.
Like most of the other protestors, Hope Charters of Lafayette lives with type 1 diabetes and learned of the demonstration through the patient advocacy group T1International, Charters holds a sign that lists the 2016 costs for treating her disease, including insulin and testing supplies. At the bottom, it reads: “Cost to survive for 12 months: $23,356.”
Read more: https://www.nuvo.net/news/indiana-has-a-drug-company-problem-insulin-is-increasingly-inaccessible/article_7da9f326-bf0c-11e7-94c1-bbea5fadfea3.html
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