Walmart starts selling low-priced analog insulin

Walmart’s sold regular insulin under the ReliOn brand for some time. It’s a lifesaver for diabetics in the US who can’t afford the insane list prices from pharmaceutical companies. Regular insulin follows the slow glucose release from protein, so it works well on the Bernstein diet. On the other hand, it’s not so good for diabetics who eat a lot of carbohydrates and dose for normal eating. It also takes longer to act when correcting high blood sugar than the new ReliOn NovoLog, a fast-acting analog insulin.

ReliOn NovoLog, produced in a partnership with Novo Nordisk, will be available at Walmart from mid-July. Priced at $86 for a packet of prefilled insulin pens or $73 for a vial, it’s a world away from the list price that uninsured diabetics pay. Some people point to that this is still expensive compared to other western countries, and that what is needed is a federal price cap. Rising insulin prices have been the source of much debate during the past year, and deaths have occurred after diabetics tried to ration their insulin. Many people also go across the border into Canada to access cheaper insulin. The price gouging is especially despicable when the inventors of insulin sold the patent for $1, convinced that lifesaving insulin belonged to the world and should be distributed at cost price. That’s not what happened.

Walmart’s release of analog insulin will make life easier for a lot of people. More than 34 million people in the US have diabetes, and 1.5 million receive the diagnosis every year. There are also projects like The Open Insulin Foundation, that aims to sidestep patent law and make generic insulin available to everyone. Both things are a move in the right direction. Walmart is still missing a proper long-acting insulin, like Levemir or Tresiba, which offer better blood sugar control than the intermediate NPH insulin for sale in the stores.