California will make cheaper, state-branded insulin available for those with diabetes, Governor Gavin Newsom Announced Thursday, boasting his initiative to make drugs more affordable will take on more pricey medications.
Starting on Jan. 1, each insulin pen sold by CalRx will be $11, nearly 90% cheaper than the same drug sold by Lantus, a pharmaceutical company.
A month’s supply of a five-pen pack will be sold at $55, officials said.
But the exact price at drug stores may vary depending on what kind of insurance patients have.
Thursday’s announcement was two years in the making as Newsom had announced the state would manufacture more affordable insulin in a partnership with nonprofit generic drugmaker Civica Rx,
“It has been a long road to get here,” Newsom said. “It’s a process that will continue to unfold over the next few years as we expand the portfolio of options as it relates to insulin and continue our partnership with Biocon and continue our effort to expand the portfolio of opportunities under this CalRx brand.”
State officials said they are considering adding a number of popular but costly drugs to CalRx, such as GLP-1s, weight loss drugs that are often used by those with diabetes.
Newsom maintained the state-branded insulins will be cheaper and different from subsidized insulins, which often comes with a cap amount. For example, the Inflation Reduction Act established that a month’s supply of insulin for those with medicare to be $35.
“We’re creating a pattern interrupt,” Newsom claimed. “This is significantly different than what others have done to achieve lower costs, because again, we are taking out the middleman and we are fundamentally reducing the cost to individuals, ultimately extending that to taxpayers themselves.”
Newsom said “anyone” can access the CalRx program. Those who already have prescriptions for insulin can request state-branded insulin at the pharmacy, he explained.
“You just simply transition to this biosimilar insulin that now is being provided under this first-in-the-nation branding, CalRx,” the governor said.
The Democratic leader, who is widely considered as a potential candidate for the 2028 presidential race, also called out “big pharma,” saying the state’s program aims to bypass the drugmakers.
“(It will) disrupt this multibillion-dollar market,” Newsom touted. “Ninety percent of insulins in this country, 90 percent share, are in the hands of just three big companies, and they have been gouging you for years and years and years.”