Category Archives: Generic Insulin

Mark Cuban’s drug company to sell name-brand diabetes drugs

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https://mailchi.mp/c9e26ad7702a/the-weekly-gist-april-7-2023?e=d1e747d2d8

On Monday, the Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drugs Company (MCCPDC) announced via Twitter that it will begin to offer two branded diabetes drugs, Invokana and Invokamet, produced by Janssen, a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary. A month’s supply of these drugs, the first non-generics it has offered, will cost patients around $244, over 60 percent less than average retail prices. Prescriptions for these diabetes drugs fell from nearly 2M in 2020 to under 1M in 2022, and a key Invokama patent will expire next year, both factors that may have influenced Janssen’s decision to partner with MCCPDC.

The Gist: MCCPDC estimates that as many as 1M people who use these or similar drugs could benefit from the lower prices—not only the uninsured but also those considered “underinsured” due to high deductibles. 

Even though the deal is for two drugs with declining revenues, selling brand-name drugs from a pharmaceutical heavyweight is a notable step for the company.

As Congress continues to investigate PBMs for driving up drug spending through their pricing tactics, MCCPDC’s move offers a path to PBM disruption through direct competition. By cutting out the rebates retained by health plans and PBMs, MCCDPC can potentially offer better net payments to pharmaceutical companies, as well as reduced cost-sharing for patients—an arrangement that benefits both parties at the expense of traditional PBMs.

California partners with Civica Rx to produce generic insulin

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https://mailchi.mp/6f4bb5a2183a/the-weekly-gist-march-24-2023?e=d1e747d2d8

This week, California Governor Gavin Newsom announced the state has struck a 10-year, $50M partnership with nonprofit drugmaker Civica Rx to produce three versions of generic insulin.

These are intended to be made available nationwide for list prices of no more than $30 a vial.

Production is slated to begin in late 2023 at Civica’s Petersburg, VA plant, and Food and Drug Administration approval will be required. This deal advances California’s CalRx initiative to produce and distribute generic drugs at low costs; according to a Newsom administration official, the low-cost insulin will be available to state residents through mail-order and retail pharmacies. This is the first state-level partnership for Civica, a health system collaborative whose members now cover a third of all US hospital capacity.

The Gist: Since Congress capped insulin copays for Medicare beneficiaries at $35 per month, there’s been a remarkable sea change in the pricing of the drug. Last week, Sanofi joined Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk, the three of which together control 90 percent of the US insulin market, in dramatically reducing insulin list prices and capping out-of-pocket costs (including for the uninsured), bringing them in line with the costs now paid by Medicare beneficiaries. 

Given that most Americans needing insulin are already covered by these policies, the impact of California’s initiative may be muted. However, it sets an important precedent for state partnership in pharmaceutical production that will surely expand to other drugs (Newsom stated generic naloxone could be next)—and works to position Newsom as an advocate for lower drug costs, should he seek higher office.