Pricked

The price of diabetes related medicines should be an American embarrassment……………

The pricing problems associated with insulin have been well documented over the years. Aside from perhaps the EpiPen, no other drug has been more of a poster child for drug pricing dysfunction than this immensely important medication for diabetic patients across the country.

This isn’t really news to anyone. We’ve known this for years.

We’ve also known that the insulin pricing problem is uniquely American. As the recently released insulin pricing investigation from Senators Chuck Grassley and Ron Wyden demonstrates, the industry mechanics that are inflating costs are nothing short of a national embarrassment.

With that in mind, 46brooklyn has been working on a follow-up to our September deep dive into drug price comparisons between Australia and the U.S., and have been turning our focus to prices in Canada.

In the midst of our research in price differentials between the countries, the Grassley/Wyden investigation timed up with a recent viral video of an aggrieved mother who could not afford to pay for the insulin for her diabetic son.

So we began honing in on the cost of insulin in the U.S. versus Canada, as well as the cost differentials for other typical diabetes treatments and supplies.

The numbers from our latest report were a bit surprising to say the least, and make it abundantly clear that our nation’s overinflated drug prices are a systemic problem that go far beyond insulin.

READ OUR REPORT