Prices of select insulin shoots up to 20% in one yr
ETHealthworld | March 15, 2019
Chennai: Fluctuating US Dollar has pushed prices of insulin pens, cartridges, and basal insulin by up to 20% over the last few months, thereby pushing up medical bills of diabetics in India. Diabetologists say nearly a third of-of their insulin dependent patients are now paying more for their daily medication. Data sourced from the online medical store, Netmeds, show that cost of basal insulin — the type of insulin that regulates glucose levels between meals preventing low sugar, and premixed varieties that come in pens and cartridges have gone up anywhere between 3.5% to 20.9% between January and December 2018. For instance, the cost of insulin pens sold by pharma giant Eli Lilli and Company has gone up by Rs 134 in December 2018 from Rs 640 in January. This is a 20.9% increase in a year, while Basalog One 100IU Pen Injection from Biocon went up by Rs 79 or nearly 10% higher increase to the current price of Rs 823.1. The cost of basal insulin by Sanofi went up by Rs 277 to Rs 2,983 in 2018 per vial.