Still impactful

STAT News published a great (and free) story today on what’s behind the high price of insulin, a drug (well, it’s soon to be reclassified as a biologic…) first discovered nearly a century ago by a team at the University of Toronto that sold it to the university for $1. The story, “With insulin prices skyrocketing, there’s plenty of blame to go around”, points to decisions made by pharmaceutical makers — both brand name and generic, physicians and the Food & Drug Administration.

Just a few hours later, FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb posted a Twitter thread on what the agency is doing to lower insulin prices.

THREAD: Access to affordable insulin is literally a matter of life and death, but insulin list prices regularly increase by double digits annually. This must change, and it will. #FDA is working on new steps to promote competition to lower prices and expand access for patients. pic.twitter.com/So0myeUbnJ

— Scott Gottlieb, M.D. (@SGottliebFDA) February 19, 2019

I don’t know nearly enough about pharmaceutical manufacturing, medicine or intellectual property to sort this mess out. I do know this: Good journalism still has an impact.