Walmart releases more affordable analog insulin

Firstly, for anyone completely out of insulin, please know novonordisk offers a patient assistant program and will cover your insulin free of cost. I used this during college. If you can&#x27;t even afford a doctor, there should be free health care clinics willing to sign those forms required. I used my college&#x27;s clinic once to do so as well. The down side is signing away your personal health records.<p>As a type 1 diabetic myself, Walmart&#x27;s offerings on R or Regular insulin saved me a few times. Once when I was simply out of insulin and did not have insurance. Then when I was caught in another city for work and ran out due to needing to extend my stay. I am slightly disappointed to see that one, the price is not the same as their human insulin which is around 25 dollars per vial I believe. Two, it will require a prescription. The times I bought their cheapest insulin, this was not required. However, I hope this is the right direction.

This really is one of those great shames of the US. Insulin is 10x what it should cost.<p>Out of pocket, Fiasp costs 7.50 euro per 3ml, Novorapid costs 6.50, Novomix 30 is 7 euro, Triseba 12 euro, even the ridiculously pricy Xultophy is only 30 euro. The idea that &quot;We halved the price&quot; when the price is literally ten times too high, and not presenting it as &quot;a start, we intend to bring the price down far more over the next few years&quot; but as &quot;and then we stopped, we&#x27;re undercutting and that&#x27;s all we&#x27;re interested in&quot; is... insane?

Great to see more competition in the insulin analogs space.<p>Walmart is also famous for selling regular insulin for $25&#x2F;vial for many years now. Regular insulin isn&#x27;t always as easy to dose as the modern insulin analogs, but it&#x27;s a viable option for most people who are cost-constrained who don&#x27;t otherwise have access to insurance.

This is great, but (obviously) not purely benevolent.<p>A vial of analog insulin costs something like $6-7 to produce, probably less at Walmart scale. The distribution costs probably make the net cost somewhere still in the $7-10 range.<p>That’s a $60-65 or ~90% margin per Vial.<p>5-10 million or so insulin users in the US, let’s assume Walmart captures 3 million, at 3 vials per month.<p>$180 * 12 * 3mil ~~ 6.5 Billion.<p>Current market cap 400B<p>Lots of assumptions, but Walmart may have just added 2% of market cap per annum by insulin sales?

I really would love it if people contemplated for a moment before posting horrible stuff acting like everyone with type 2 diabetes deserves it, or only has it because they buy food at Walmart. There are all sorts of factors that can contribute to diabetes and some people struggle with it for life. Do a little better.

Note that this is a cooperation with Novo Nordisk, which is one of the &quot;bad guys&quot; in the insulin story.

The inventors of insulin gave away the patents to specifically not profit off of a life saving drug. This is progress. However, I feel we have regressed as a society on preserving equitable access to life saving drugs.

Walmart seems fantastic for customers, bad for employees and bad for suppliers.<p>I wonder if every company was like this, what would happen to the world.

I look forward to them selling this right next to the 40-packs of Coke like how the tortilla chip aisle always has dip on the end cap.

I&#x27;d love to hear from someone with diabetes if this version of insulin is comparable to the typical high-end modern insulins. I remember at one point Walmart had a $20 insulin, but there was something about it that made the dosing a royal pain compared to other insulins. Is this any better?

Considering the number of people dependent on insulin, I wonder if it would be possible for diabetics to form a coop-like structure and purchase it (or make it) at rock-bottom production prices for members.

will other producers reduce their prices too now?

Call me impressed once they start giving it away for $1 or free!

How long does a vial typically last? Is it one vial per day?

This is good because it will actually help people...<p>... but wow, just woooow. It&#x27;s so incredibly depressing that I&#x27;m calling this &quot;good.&quot; Sometimes the sheer insanity of the United States health care system overwhelms me. The fact insulin isn&#x27;t a few dollars or <i>free</i> is beyond disheartening. It&#x27;s like the system itself saying the Sackler&#x27;s just didn&#x27;t have enough imagination exploiting people, and destroying lives, for profit. &quot;Oh? You don&#x27;t need to get them addicted if they&#x27;ll die without it... silly, Sacklers. #BusinessMASTER&quot;<p>I keep hoping one day folks in the US will get tired of being screwed on their healthcare and living in fear of getting sick... <i>shrug</i>

Walmart knows it&#x27;s customers: They sell vast quantities of candy, sugar drinks and food with added sugar, and now insulin.

Ah, walmart. The cause of, and solution to type II diabetes.

The insulin Walmart is selling is much, much more difficult to use effectively than the fast-acting insulin formulations that Type 1 diabetics rely on to keep them alive, because they work so slowly. Better than nothing, but it&#x27;s much harder to avoid the highs and lows that cause major damage to the body.

How the hell is it &quot;revolutionary&quot; to offer a life-saving product for $70. It&#x27;s free here in Canada. This is nothing more than a PR play -- if they weren&#x27;t also able to turn a profit on it, they wouldn&#x27;t have done it.