Insulin is expensive. While it costs around 10-13 dollars for manufacturers to produce insulin, big pharma companies are selling it for $250-500 dollars per month. This is because America’s warped pharmaceutical market allows three companies, Eli-Lilly, Sanofi, and Novo Nordisk, to dominate the insulin businesses and set insanely high prices for their drugs. Today I am talking to my friend Siara Patel, a freshman at Boston University and a Type 1 Diabetic. We learn about her journey living with Type 1 Diabetes and the economic challenges she and many other Type 1 and Type 2 diabetics face on a daily basis. After my interview with Siara, we will take a deep dive into why the price of insulin has grown so much in the past 20 years and how this life-saving drug has shifted so far way away from its initial altruistic intent. One of the founders of insulin, Canadian scientist Frederick Benting said, “Insulin belongs to the world.” But we seem to be living in reality far away from this statement. 

Additional resources and information:
https://www.jdrf.org/
https://civicarx.org/
https://diabetes.org/
https://openinsulin.org/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_RQl1pK11g 

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