Daylight On Diabetes Drugs: Nevada Bill Would Track Insulin Makers’ Profits

Patients notched a rare win over the pharmaceutical industry Monday when the Nevada Legislature revived a bill requiring insulin makers to disclose the profits they make on the life-sustaining drug. In a handful of other states, bills addressing drug prices have stalled.
Many of the 1.25 million Americans who live with Type 1 diabetes cheered the legislative effort in Nevada as an important first step in their fight against skyrocketing costs of a drug on which their lives depend. The cost of insulin medications has steadily risen over the past decade by nearly 300 percent.
Prominent patient advocacy groups, like the American Diabetes Association, have maintained stony silence while diabetes patients championed the bill and lobbied the legislature during this debate — a silence that patients and experts say stems from financial ties.
“Normally all of the patient advocacy groups rally around causes and piggyback on each other in a productive way — that’s what advocacy groups are good at — but that hasn’t been the case here,” said Thom Scher, chief operating officer of Beyond Type 1, which does not accept donations from the pharmaceutical industry. Beyond Type 1 has not issued a formal opinion on the Nevada bill.
Many of the dozens of U.S. diabetes advocacy organizations, large and small, garner significant portions of their funding from insulin manufacturers. The Nevada bill also requires such organizations operating in-state to disclose all contributions they receive from the pharmaceutical industry to discourage that sort of conflict.
In 2016, two of the “b Continue reading

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Diabetes patients sue insulin makers for ‘pricing fraud’

A group of diabetes patients filed a lawsuit Monday against three drug companies for systematically increasing the list prices of insulin for years in an alleged fraudulent-pricing scheme that saddled patients with “crushing out-of-pocket expenses,” according to the filing.
The insulin market is dominated by an oligopoly of companies that sell many billions of dollars worth of insulin each year — and have steadily raised the list prices of their drugs. A version of insulin called Humalog launched two decades ago with a sticker price of $21 a vial and has increased to $255 a vial.
Meanwhile, competition has appeared to work in a perverse way, with list prices of competing insulins often rising in concert. Last year, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Elijah E. Cummings (D-Md.) asked for a federal investigation into “possible collusion” on insulin prices.
The lawsuit, filed by 11 patients in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts, focuses on a common practice in the pharmaceutical industry: Drug companies compete for insurers' business by offering secret rebates on their drugs. Companies that negotiate drug prices for insurers, called pharmacy benefit managers, can place drugs on tiers that determine how much consumers pay for them — decisions that may be influenced by the size of the discount granted by the drug companies.
The lawsuit claims that drug companies have been increasing the list price of insulin in order to expand their discounts without lowering the overall price tag. The people stuck paying the balance: patients, particularly those without insurance Continue reading

Venezuela without insulin

This is for those of you who do not live in Venezuela, but need to know what’s happening in our country. I usually write in Spanish since I live in Venezuela, but this time I’m writing in English in an effort to draw the attention of international organizations and media to the life and death situation faced by Venezuelans living with Type 1 diabetes.
My daughter was diagnosed when she was eight years old, her life depends on getting her daily doses of insulin. For many years I never had to worry about getting her insulin and diabetes supplies since all I had to do was to go to the pharmacy and purchase whatever I needed. Roughly about three years ago, insulin and diabetes supplies needed to control type 1 diabetes began to become scarce. At that moment we started a campaign on social media with the hashtag #LaDiabetesNoEspera (Diabetes does not wait) #SinInsumosNosMorimos (Without supplies we will die).
Fast forward three years and the situation, instead of getting better, has worsened.
Last week I visited five pharmacies and in each one, the answer was the same: no insulin, of any type, nor glucose testing strips.
This situation is repeated all over the country, in big or small towns, and public or private health facilities. Anyone who lives with type 1 diabetes or has a relative or friend living with this chronic condition, knows how serious this can be, and they also know what may happen if someone needing insulin does not get their daily doses of it. Many, many people, young or old, are presenting complications due to using less insulin than needed to make it last Continue reading

How to explain diabetes to someone who doesn’t have it

Diabetes is one of those things that many people think they know everything about, yet they actually know so little…it is probably similar in some other situations, but I am not so sure. For example, I would never presume to know all about Cancer, or Epilepsy or Lupus. I would never speak to someone who told me they had one of these conditions, in a condescending way, or say that just looking at a donut had given me the condition, in a meme on Facebook. I would never tell them it was their own fault….Yet in diabetes all of these things and more, happen on a regular basis. Case in point, I was recently at a blogging mastermind and one of the “experts” was at our table, working through our ideas for our communities and businesses. When I told my story about diabetes work and blogging, he was interested and seemed to know a little about health based businesses and blogs. However at the end of his chat to me, he turned to point at a soft drink can on the table (the OTHER side of the table in front of another person who was drinking it) and said “is that drink diabetic approved?!” in a funny way, as if it was a joke…somehow related to the fact I have type 1 diabetes. Now that morning I had been having a terrible time with my blood glucose, leaving our apartment where we were staying with a level of 15 mmol and arriving with it going up, not down, to 18 mmol. I was supposed to facilitate at our table but had to change my insulin pump site and then manage my levels to try and get them down, all while working on a mastermind…I was like the classic duck paddling like Continue reading

Experts Share Ways You Can Support Your Family Member With Diabetes

Living with diabetes not only changes the lives of the people who have diabetes but also those who are around them. People with diabetes have to constantly monitor every action: what they eat, how much they eat, how much exercise they get, when and how many times to check their blood sugar levels.
We understand how tiring all that may be to do on your own. This is why, it is important to have the support of those around you. Without the support of your loved ones, you may not hold yourself as accountable as they may for not taking good care of yourself. While it is the goal of your family members to give you as much support as they can, they might not exactly know how to do so.
If you are a family member who wants to support their loved one who has diabetes, you will find this article extremely important and helpful.
We have gathered responses from experts on how they think you can help your loved one on their journey with diabetes.
Please keep reading to find out how you can lend your support in small or big ways.
1. Tony A. Gaskins Jr.
As the son of two diabetic parents, I understand what it’s like to love someone who is struggling with an issue that seems to be bigger than you. Is love enough to inspire someone to live a healthy lifestyle? I believe you have as good of a chance as anything else.
First, you can’t be an enabler. Although there may be some things your love one likes to eat and it seems so pleasurable for them, you can’t trade momentary pleasure for long-term health. You have to speak up and be a voice to encourage them to eat healthy and to stay inbou Continue reading