California Gov. Gavin Newsom – PHOTO: TOM WILLIAMS/ZUMA PRESS
Gov. Gavin Newsom says California will spend $100 million to develop low-cost insulin and build an in-state manufacturing facility. They may be disappointed in the result. The Wall Street Journal notes that:
For every $100 in spending on insulin in 2018, manufacturers received $46.73. The rest went to pharmacy benefit managers ($14.36), insurers ($10.40), pharmacies ($20.42) and wholesalers ($8.09), according to a study last year in the Journal of the American Medical Association….
The JAMA study estimated that the average list prices of 32 insulin products increased 40.1% between 2014 and 2018 while the amount that manufacturers received fell by 30.8%. Drug makers aren’t the problem.