Minnesota has reached a settlement with Eli Lilly and Co. in a price gouging lawsuit against the country’s three biggest insulin manufacturers that guarantees that Minnesotans can now buy Lilly-produced insulin for only $35 a month for the next five years, Attorney General Keith Ellison announced Wednesday.
The settlement is likely to benefit as many as 500,000 residents whether they have insurance or not, and it covers all Lilly brand-name insulin products, Ellison said at a news conference. Litigation remains pending against two other manufacturers named in the 2018 lawsuit, Sanofi-Aventis and Novo Nordisk.
The American Diabetes Association says more than 8 million Americans use insulin, which the body needs to convert food into energy. People who have diabetes don’t produce enough insulin.
While Lilly and other drug manufacturers have taken steps to help diabetics cover the costs of their insulin, and Minnesota adopted an emergency safety net program for diabetics in 2020, Ellison said the settlement provides better guarantees for patients that their out-of-pocket insulin costs won’t exceed $35 a month, beginning immediately.