Under pricing pressure, Lilly cut its generic insulin another 40% to 2008 price levels

In September 2021, with drugmakers facing renewed calls to lower prescription drug costs, Eli Lilly took preemptive action, dropping the cost of its generic insulin by 40%. Starting the next year, the list price of Lispro Injection would be $82.42 for an individual vial and $159.12 for a five-pack of pens — pricing Lispro 70% less than its branded counterpart, Humalog U-100, and returning the cost of insulin to 2008 levels, the company said.

It was Lilly's second act of repricing. In 2019, weeks after Sen. Ron Wyden told a drug-price hearing that Humalog's cost per vial had jumped from $21 in 1996 to $275 in 2019 — 'Humalog isn't 13 times as effective as it used to be,' he said — Lilly rolled out Lispro Injection as a generic alternative to Humalog, charging $137.35 per vial and $265.20 for a five-pack, half of what Humalog fetched at the time.

The market kept moving around it. In 2019 Sanofi created its Insulin Valyou Savings Program charging patients $99 per month regardless of income; Novo Nordisk followed with My$99Insulin in 2020; and three months before Lilly's 2021 announcement, Walmart began selling private-label analog insulin with Novo Nordisk at a deep discount — ReliOn NovoLog vials at $72.88, which the company said was $101 less than the branded version.

Lilly runs a similar savings program, and with the new reduction enrolled patients can fill monthly prescriptions for $35 — open to the uninsured, commercially insured and Medicare Part D. 'Today's price cut can further help people who are exposed within our healthcare system — the underinsured and uninsured,' CEO David Ricks said in a statement. 'Lispro Injection has been adopted by a third of Humalog U-100 customers. We hope this additional 40 percent cut can expand affordable insulin to more people with diabetes.'

A third of Humalog U-100 customers had adopted the cheaper Lispro generic; from 2022 the vial lists at $82.42, 70% below the brand and back at 2008 levels.

Drugmakers faced renewed calls to lower prescription drug prices, and Lilly moved preemptively rather than wait for regulators or legislation to force cuts.

The repricing began in 2019 after Sen. Wyden publicized Humalog's 13-fold price rise since 1996 — weeks later Lispro launched at half of Humalog's price.

Rivals kept undercutting: Walmart and Novo Nordisk were selling ReliOn NovoLog at $72.88 a vial, $101 below the branded version and below Lilly's generic.

A third of Humalog U-100 customers had already switched to the cheaper Lispro generic, showing Lilly could reprice without losing the franchise's volume.

Monthly-cap savings programs at Lilly, Sanofi and Novo Nordisk showed affordability — not brand premium — had become the battleground for insulin.

Pre-emptive repricing beats imposed repricing: Lilly kept cutting before regulators or rebate math forced it, trading margin to keep control of the story.

As of the September 28, 2021 announcement, the new Lispro prices were set to take effect the following year, with the vial listing at $82.42 and the five-pack at $159.12. Lilly's savings program continued to cap monthly prescriptions at $35 for enrolled patients alongside the cut, and the move was another in a series of price cuts prominent insulin makers had rolled out over the preceding years.