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Congress: Fix the insulin crisis NOW!
We are tired of faint-hearted and temporary fixes for this ongoing emergency -- namely, that as you read this, people are getting sick and even dying over unconscionable price increases for many forms of insulin.
Partisan gamesmanship is not acceptable. “Competition-based” free market solutions are not acceptable. We know you are capable of working together and accomplishing a goal when you so choose, and we the people are demanding you do it now.
BACKGROUND
Almost 30 million Americans live with diabetes and 6 million need daily insulin to live.
From 2010 to 2015, the three companies that control 90% of the world’s insulin market -- Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk, Sanofi Aventis -- increased prices on the drug by a minimum of 168%, sometimes soaring as high as 325%.
The Canadian team that first discovered insulin sold the patent to their university for $1 to prevent any company from gaining a monopoly. So why are there no low-priced generic versions available? For one thing, because our dysfunctional patent process allows drug companies to file for minor variations that lengthen the terms of their monopoly. Sanofi has filed 74 patent applications on Lantus alone, which theoretically extends their competition-free monopoly for 37 years. (Lantus prices increased from $244 to $431 between 2013 and 2019.)
WHAT WE DEMAND
Enough of the partisan politics, allow prescription drug imports. Politicians love the free market -- until it cuts into a monopoly that delivers big contributions to politicians. That’s not going to cut it anymore. We demand better.
Fix the patent system. Until the U.S. patent system is fixed, the pharmaceutical industry will continue to block competition, increase prices and sell new but largely ineffective drugs.
Outlaw consumer drug advertising. Most countries ban it, for good reasons. It promotes the sale of these new, costly and ineffective drugs that don’t help anything except the drug companies’ bottom line.
Make insurance companies follow doctors’ prescribing guidelines. The different types of insulin can work more or less well for some patients. Their access to versions of a basic, life-saving treatment that works best for them shouldn’t be decided by an accountant at their insurance company.
Include consumers in your regulatory process. Congress is famous for producing solutions without understanding how they affect ordinary citizens.
BE PREPARED TO PLAY HARDBALL
The National Institutes of Health provide a substantial part of the funding for the early research and development process of pharmaceutical companies -- in exchange for a mere acknowledgment in the patent application. “Taxpayers paid for your successful new drug, and all we got was a lousy T-shirt.”
Our elected representatives need to use that funding as leverage -- because frankly, we’re not getting much for it. Because instead of developing new drugs that help us all, Big Pharma works mostly on those minor variations that only exist to allow them to extend lucrative, exclusive patents.
That’s why you should sign our petition.
LEGISLATION YOU SHOULD SUPPORT
Chuck Grassley and Amy Klobuchar introduced legislation that permits consumers to buy prescription drugs from Canadian pharmacies and also bring them home for personal use.
An even better bill, co-authored by Cory Booker and Bob Casey, would initially allow U.S. wholesalers, pharmacies, and individuals to import medications from Canada. After two years, imports from other countries are permitted.
Grassley and Klobuchar also have the “Preserve Access to Affordable Generics Act,” which cracks down on "pay-for-delay." That’s the scam by which drug companies whose patents are about to expire pay off competitors to keep them from making cheaper, generic versions.
And Elizabeth Warren wants the U.S. government to make their own generic drugs. If that’s what it comes to, well, it’s your own fault for not doing the job.
Work together. Stand up for consumers.
A PERSONAL NOTE
A few years ago, one of my oldest friends was diagnosed with a brain tumor. She handled the family finances, and in an attempt to save a few bucks, she cut the prescription benefits from her family’s insurance coverage. Once she was diagnosed, her medication was $30,000. A month. They had to put it on their credit cards. Cancer bankrupts even those it doesn’t kill.
I have another friend, a retired cop. His wife is still working and makes a very good salary. But he suffers from psoriatic arthritis, and the co-pay on the medication that could help him is $6000 a month. They can’t afford it.
Suffering from a curable condition when you can’t afford treatment is a very special kind of mental hell. You want to live and contribute, but you won’t get that opportunity because … you’re not wealthy? A decent society doesn’t throw people away like this.
Let’s work on being a more decent society. Please sign the petition.
Thanks,
Susie Madrak
Consumers United For Fairness
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