California To Make Its Own, Low-Cost Insulin, Newsom Says

July 24, 2022 8:27 PM

Gov. Gavin Newsom says California will make its own insulin, noting that its current high-cost "epitomizes market failures."

"California is taking matters into our own hands," the governor said in a video Thursday.

He later added: "Because in California, we know people should not go into debt to receive life-saving medication."

Here's the 1-minute video if you'd rather hear it from the governor on Twitter.

posted by aniola (25 comments total)

I wonder if they're tapping any expertise from the open insulin project in Oakland California(previously)? Regardless, as someone who has rolled pennies at least once to scrape up the last bit of money for buying insulin, I approve. It's ridiculously expensive, and the price has gone up even as patents have expired, which is inexplicable.
posted by BrotherCaine at 9:00 PM on July 24, 2022 [18 favorites]

Cheap insulin was in Build Back Better. Thanks Manchin!

I think they should vote on insulin as a seperate bill. Call it the Fuck Diabetes Bill, and when it doesn't pass drill home that the republicans are pro-diabetes.

I remember a congresswoman talking about the easiest bill they ever passed. It was a law that would prohibit advertisers making their ads 10x louder than the programming. Remember that? It was absurd, everybody hated those ads. She didn't get a 'no' from anyone, it was universally popular. People were EXCITED that someone was doing something about this everyday annoyance.

I don't think it's that simple anymore. The Fuck Diabetes bill would be popular, but Mitch can't let a democrat bill pass, it'd make them look effective. If it would work and make everyone happy, even more reason to vote no. Make everyone suffer to own the libs.
posted by adept256 at 9:15 PM on July 24, 2022 [23 favorites]

Mandatory shout-out to the other drug already manufactured by the State of California, BabyBIG.
posted by kickingtheground at 9:39 PM on July 24, 2022 [3 favorites]

I am only slightly disappointed to find out that "BabyBIG" isn't the State of California's brand of Human Growth Hormone.
posted by Kadin2048 at 9:58 PM on July 24, 2022 [12 favorites]

Is the insulin actually subsidized by California, or is it going to be sold at a (small) profit?

If it's the latter, then this could be beneficial for the whole nation, not just California.
posted by meowzilla at 10:20 PM on July 24, 2022 [1 favorite]

It isn’t clear whether this will be available for purchase outside of California. If not, I rather see a future where people from states a day or more drive away come to buy a month’s supply for themselves and their network.
posted by Bottlecap at 10:34 PM on July 24, 2022 [6 favorites]

Why only insulin? How about some nice single-payer healthcare for everybody and let's spend our retirement savings on something other than illness, like the rest of the world?
posted by bink at 10:34 PM on July 24, 2022 [13 favorites]

If not, I rather see a future where people from states a day or more drive away come to buy a month’s supply for themselves and their network.

I have a feeling other manufacturer's will quickly reduce prices. Given how expensive relative to production price, how is there no investigation into collusion among drug manufacturers?
posted by geoff. at 10:52 PM on July 24, 2022 [5 favorites]

@bink- as a type one diabetic, i agree with your entire statement, but look up how insulin has been price-gauged into insanity over the years. it isn't something you can just cut down on or skip a day. you die, horribly, and people unfortunately die from having to ration a hormone that is so cheap to make but greed has taken over.
posted by europeandaughter at 10:53 PM on July 24, 2022 [15 favorites]

California Democrats failed to support a bill this past January that would created a universal healthcare system in the state, despite having an overwhelming lock on government in the state at all levels. Something I'm sure Newsom and the rest of them are hoping this insulin story helps us all to forget. The party of (extremely) incremental progress strikes again.
posted by flamk at 12:25 AM on July 25, 2022 [10 favorites]

The American Way: we can't have nice things because it would be morally wrong.
posted by acb at 3:00 AM on July 25, 2022 [3 favorites]

So I think that Lispo (fast acting insulin analog) is out of patent now, but there's no US generic manufacturer, and this California facility can produce that and NPH insulin (also out of patent) and charge something reasonable and still pay folks well, because there's no profit motive. California will likely save money and get better health care outcomes for people struggling to afford insulin, which also saves money, ultimately making this a net positive for the state.

Did I get that right or did I miss something important?
posted by Chrysopoeia at 5:55 AM on July 25, 2022 [13 favorites]

Now just waiting on the bullshit legal challenges from the Big-name drug manufacturers to attempt to get this shut down. Will be interesting and even more soul-crushing to see if it makes it to the S.C.
posted by sharp pointy objects at 8:00 AM on July 25, 2022 [1 favorite]

Big government exists to do exactly this. It's not always benevolent, but it certainly can be. Meanwhile, the Invisible Hand of the Market seems to be bejeweled.
posted by theora55 at 9:47 AM on July 25, 2022 [2 favorites]

I like the phrase "market failure" to describe this scenario. This needs to catch on. I know it's not a new turn of phrase; I mean catch on the sense of Fox News needs to start asking "Does the price of medical care in America reflect a Market Failure?" "Is the increase in the cost of housing a Market Failure?" etc. the way they might toss around "Cancel Culture" or "Liberal Media".

Their talking heads will say no, of course: it's due to government interference and / or Liberals. But the idea needs to be planted. Markets and deregulation cannot solve every problem. Sometimes we get Market Failure. Market Failure. Market Failure. Let it stick in the mind of their viewers that such a thing can even exist. Let it become one of those phrases used by people who don't know what it means in the original academic sense and simply use it to refer to all aspects of economic unfairness. Because we need to start asking this about a lot of things, and, eventually, all of capitalism.

Eventually we will get to the place where people say things like "Private health care always results in a Market Failure" and the idea that private health care being good is impossible is a powerful one.
posted by cape at 9:48 AM on July 25, 2022 [13 favorites]

I rather see a future where people from states a day or more drive away come to buy a month’s supply for themselves and their network

While this would doubtless suck for those people in the short term, it might also provide some leverage for their states to step up their own game. Newsom has already run ads in Florida that basically say "is DeSantis fucking up your life? C'mon over to California, we're at least vaguely competent, and look at the nice things you can have!"
posted by aramaic at 12:13 PM on July 25, 2022 [2 favorites]

I like the phrase "market failure" to describe this scenario.

When Bill Gates left Microsoft, he explicitly said that he would be working on social problems that were vexed by market failure. I remember that the Seattle Times, which gave the impression that they wanted to print his words in gold ink, carefully put scare quotes around '"market failure"'.
posted by clew at 12:49 PM on July 25, 2022 [1 favorite]

As in, the market cannot fail, it can only be failed.
posted by acb at 1:47 PM on July 25, 2022 [2 favorites]

BrotherCaine, with all due respect, it does not seem that the Open Insulin Project has made any significant progress. Some part of me is encouraged by their amateur passion - a larger part is tired of privileged folks thinking they’ve figured out how to fix major human problems and actually accomplishing nothing. (I work in international development, which is made up almost entirely of this.)
posted by rrrrrrrrrt at 2:07 PM on July 25, 2022 [3 favorites]

One of the first comments in that open insulin project thread is that it would cost $250 million to get a new insulin drug onto the market. California is pledging only $100 million to this project (only $50 million to development), so something doesn't quite match up.
posted by meowzilla at 2:48 PM on July 25, 2022 [1 favorite]

Maybe that high figure is anti-propaganda, to discourage feasibility studies at all. Big pharma has a lot of infiltration money to spend. Spinning wheels that get nowhere, is one way to keep the status quo.
posted by Oyéah at 3:07 PM on July 25, 2022 [1 favorite]

Clearly making small batch insulin at home with 3d printed parts is, generously, a second-best solution after having a working universal healthcare system. But it's hard to begrudge people for focusing on the unideal technical solution that has some chance of working instead of the ideal political solution that has no signs of ever happening.
posted by Pyry at 4:35 PM on July 25, 2022

some chance of working instead of the ideal political solution that has no signs of ever happening

It always seems like there's a substantial chunk of "the left" that would prefer nothing happen rather than allow an "imperfect" or "better than nothing" solution. Similarly, an imperfect candidate must necessarily be rejected in favor of the ideal candidate who may not even be running, and so one must vote for nobody rather than commit an "impure" vote. Heightening the contradictions inherent in the system, I suppose.

Perfect being enemy of Good, as if the concept of iterative improvement and "fuck it, let's at least try something to see what happens" didn't exist.
posted by aramaic at 5:36 PM on July 25, 2022 [5 favorites]

I think it's worth clarifying my comment above: I'm definitely not begrudging anyone an unideal solution. I commented on the idea of California benefitting from expertise on making insulin. That is not the Open Insulin Project, who, seven years in, have not been able to make insulin.
posted by rrrrrrrrrt at 6:25 PM on July 25, 2022 [2 favorites]

California is the world's fifth largest economy, doesn't lack for technical, research, or medical, expertise. Transferring drug making onto a state platform will require some gumption, and will be working against a huge force that doesn't want this to happen, the tiers of hands out which profit on every dollar spent for meds will be scrambling for Newsom's head. At every level of effort, there will be corporate opposition and corporate security strategists to the fore, the politics oh the politics!
posted by Oyéah at 2:19 PM on July 26, 2022