California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) on Saturday announced the state is manufacturing its own insulin and capping the cost at $30.
California’s CalRx initiative has partnered with nonprofit generic drug manufacturer CIVICA to make the drug and bring the price down by around 90 percent, according to the governor’s office.
“California will be manufacturing some of America’s most affordable insulin. The new CalRx insulin will be just $30. It will be available to all Californians — and across the nation,” Newsom said on Twitter.
The move follows an executive order Newsom signed on his first day in office back in 2019, aimed at bringing down the cost of prescription drugs.
“It’ll cost us $30 to manufacture and distribute, and that’s how much the consumer can buy it for. You don’t need a voucher or coupon to access this price, and it’s available to everybody regardless of insurance plan,” reads a release from the governor’s office detailing the plan.
But it will still take a while for the low-cost drug to hit store shelves — the governor’s office said Sunday that CIVICA and the California Health and Human Services Agency are still working together to identify a potential manufacturing facility in the state.
Newsom also announced Saturday that the state will move next to manufacture its own naloxone, a drug used to counteract the effects of an opioid overdose.
President Biden last week reiterated his administration’s focus on lowering health care costs, including the high cost of insulin.
The drugmaker Eli Lilly earlier this month announced it’s cutting the list prices for its most popular insulin products by 70 percent and capping out-of-pocket costs at $35 per month, which was followed by similar moves from companies Novo Nordisk and Sanofi amid mounting pressure on drug companies to. bring down their prices.
