By Bekerley Lovelace Jr. -
NBC News
Pharmaceutical company Sanofi will put a cap of $35 a month on the price of its most popular insulin, Lantus, for those with private health insurance, the French maker said Thursday.
The decision will enter into force on January 1, 2024.
Sanofi is the last of the big US insulin makers to lower or cap the price.
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Pharmaceuticals Eli Llily and Nordisk announced changes to insulin prices at the beginning of the month.
The three companies represent 90% of the insulin market in the United States.
A Sanofi Lantus brand insulin pen.Alex Flynn/Bloomberg via Getty Images file
"It was a matter of time"
before Sanofi also made changes, said Stacie Dusetzina, a professor of public health policy at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee.
"You don't want to mark yourself [be the only one not to change prices]."
Some 8.4 million people in the US who have diabetes are insulin dependent, according to the American Diabetes Association.
Sanofi already offers a limit of $35 a month for the uninsured.
In addition to the limit for those with private health insurance, Sanofi will also lower the list price of Lantus by 78% and its rapid-acting insulin, Apidra, by 70%.
Those reductions will benefit people with high deductibles.
Pharmaceutical Eli Lilly announces a 70% relief in the costs of its insulin
March 2, 202302:00
Insulin makers in the United States have faced pressure from lawmakers and groups to lower the price of the drug, which is much more expensive in this country compared to the rest.
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The pressure intensified after the passage of the Reduction of Inflation Act, which put a $35 cap on the price that seniors with Medicare have to pay out-of-pocket for insulin each month.
Earlier Thursday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer sent a letter to the CEO of Sanofi, asking him to lower the price of his company's insulin, following price cuts by Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk.