In an article for the New York Times, Donald McNeil reported, “With insulin prices skyrocketing and substantial shortages developing in poorer countries, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on 13 November, a day before World Diabetes Day, that it was to begin testing and approving generic versions of the drug. Agency officials said they hoped to drive down insulin prices by encouraging makers of generic drugs to enter the market, increasing competition. At the moment, the world’s insulin market is dominated by three companies — Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk and Sanofi — and they have steadily pushed up prices for two decades.
‘Four hundred million people are living with diabetes, the amount of insulin available is too low and the price is too high, so we really need to do something,’ Emer Cooke, the W.H.O.’s head of regulation of medicines and health technologies, said as she announced the plan.”
Read the full article HERE.
