Eli Lilly caps the cost of insulin at $35 a month

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26. Goddamn greedy pigs are not doing it out of kindness

In addition to political pressure, Eli Lilly also faces the threat of competition from outside the industry, said Larry Levitt, the executive vice president for health policy at KFF, formerly known as the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Civica Rx, a nonprofit company in Lehi, Utah, said last year that it plans to make and sell generic versions of insulin to consumers at no more than $30 a vial and no more than $55 for a box of five pen cartridges. The state of California also plans to make low-cost insulin, as does Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Co., which sells drugs at low costs online.

“Eli Lilly definitely sees the writing on the wall,” Levitt said.

Stacie Dusetzina, a health policy professor at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee, agreed that the move was most likely driven by increased competition.

“The company is reacting to a tremendous amount of existing and upcoming competition for these drugs,” she said.