California Will Join Insulin Fray With CivicaRx White Label Partnership

  • Mar 23, 2023

    Amid a trend of steep insulin price cuts by Eli Lilly & Co., Novo Nordisk A/S and Sanofi S.A., the state of California said it would develop its own line of affordable insulins with Civica Rx, the nonprofit drug manufacturer that launched in 2020. Experts say that patients will finally see relief from sky-high insulin prices and drug manufacturers will maintain a healthy margin — but they add that PBMs and some payers may actually see the costs of their insulin purchasing increase as rebate revenue decreases. 

    California and Civica's new insulin line will, according to a Civica press release, be called CalRx and will be sold at "no more than $30 per 10 mL vial and no more than $55 for a box of five 3 mL pre-filled pens." Allan Coukell, Civica's senior vice president of public policy, tells AIS Health, a division of MMIT, that the company expects to start selling the insulin after submitting biosimilars for FDA approval starting in 2024. According to the press release, the Civica insulin line will include biosimilars glargine (which references Sanofi's Lantus), lispro (Lilly's Humalog) and aspart (Novo's Novolog).  

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  • Peter Johnson

    Peter has worked as a journalist since 2011 and has covered health care since 2020. At AIS Health, Peter covers trends in finance, business and policy that affect the health insurance and pharma sectors. For Health Plan Weekly, he covers all aspects of the U.S. health insurance sector, including employer-sponsored insurance, Medicaid managed care, Medicare Advantage and the Affordable Care Act individual marketplaces. In Radar on Drug Benefits, Peter covers the operations of (and conflicts between) pharmacy benefit managers and pharmaceutical manufacturers, with a particular focus on pricing dynamics and market access. Before joining AIS Health, Peter covered transportation, public safety and local government for various outlets in Seattle, his hometown and current place of residence. He graduated with a B.A. from Colby College.

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