Bernie responds to Eli Lily & Twitter. Damn!

[Ms. Toad]

18. The current insulin is not covered by the patent which was sold for $1.

I wish people would stop conflating all insulin into a a single thing connected to the early patentf, and creating inflammatory stories which connect the current cost of a very different insulin to the original patent, as if the current cost of insulin should be tied to the previously donated patent for a different product.

It like comparing the current cost of automobiles to the price of a horse and buggy and getting outraged by the price increase. Both are means of transportation (just like all varieties of insulin help control diabetes), and both have wheels (just like all insulin I'm aware of is injected). But beyond that they are very different things, with different price drivers.

(I'm not suggesting that our medical system - including the cost of insulin - isn't in dramatic need of an overhaul to more closely connect the cost of medicine to the cost of production + reasonable drug development costs. Merely that the outrage about the patent is misplaced. And Sanders is smart enough to know that.)