(NewsNation) — In a bid to combat high drug prices, the state government of California will be producing its own insulin.
The $100 million plan was announced by the state’s Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom, in early July. Half of that sum will go toward building a manufacturing center while the other half will be used in the development of insulin products.
Daniel Tomaszewski, an associate professor of pharmaceutical & health economics at the University of Southern California, acknowledged to “NewsNation Prime” on Sunday that there are still a lot of questions about the proposal.
“Questions like, does the state of California plan to partner with a contract manufacturer that maybe already has some operations running in this space that they would be piggybacking off of?” he asked. “Are they looking to work with some of these nonprofit manufacturers that already got a head start on the clinical trials piece?”
He noted that insulin products need FDA approval, which could mean the delivery of these drugs could be years away.
“Best case scenario, you’re looking at something like maybe a 2024 launch if California hasn’t started that process yet,” he concluded.
Insulin tends to be much more expensive in the United States than abroad. The U.S. price is as much as four times as high as the price in Chile, for example.
NewsNation Prime hosts Natasha Zouves asked Tomaszewski why there’s such a gulf between the United States and other countries.
“That is a very complicated question … how we pay for drugs in the United States is very different than European countries,” he said, noting that there is no direct negotiation on drug pricing from government entities.
