Retired nurse Mary Smith was having trouble controlling her type 2 diabetes on her regular insulin regimen, so her doctor decided to put her on something stronger.
Amber Taylor, MD, director of The Diabetes Center at Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore, wrote Smith a prescription for Humulin U-500 insulin, a much more concentrated form of the drug. It could deliver far more active ingredient at far less overall volume, which was important since Smith’s insulin doses were getting high.
But when Smith showed up at the pharmacy, she was told she’d have to shell out $900 for a vial.
“There was no way I could afford that,” Smith told MedPage Today as she recalled the pharmacy visit, which happened about a year ago. And the price has gone up since then: Now a single bottle of highly concentrated Humulin U-500 insulin that lasts a diabetes patient about one month costs $1,200 wholesale — more than five […]