Insulin
topic on 8 shows · 16 statements across 7 episodes · said 9 times in 2 episodes since 2018
the a16z Podcast 9 
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the a16z Podcast 9
2019 1 mention in 1 episode
2018 8 mentions in 1 episode
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16 statements about Insulin, every show
Ricks: Lilly's net insulin price stayed near $30 despite $275 list price
“Our actual net on insulin really hasn't changed. It's like 30 or 40 dollars, but the list price got up to two 75.”
Historical consensus credits Banting and Best for discovering insulin
“The historical consensus at this point now being that it really was Banting and Best who did all the work.”
1920s academic culture viewed commercializing medical breakthroughs as unethical
“This is foreshadowing a little bit, but the era that we're in here in 1921, there is a firewall between industry and medical science, and it was perceived to be unethical to make money on taking your medical breakthroughs and sort of turning them into companie…”
Producing one pound of animal insulin requires 23,500 animals' pancreases
“It takes 8000 pounds of pancreatic glands from 23,500 animals to make a single pound of human insulin.”
Treating 30,000 diabetes patients in 1980 required one million animals annually
“To put that in more real numbers, that means that even by 1980, with all the advances, it took one million animals annually for 30,000 diabetes patients.”
Insulin is the only product besides food with lifelong recurring demand
“There's basically nothing other than food that you can sell someone for their entire life, but for diabetics, insulin absolutely has that scenario with a customer.”
Insulin was the first genetically engineered drug in biotech history
“The first drug that they genetically engineered
And that started this whole revolution was insulin.”
Eli Lilly claimed rebates account for 75% of insulin's sticker price
“Eli Lilly has publicly claimed that the cost of these discounts and rebates accounted for 75% of the sticker price of insulin.”
United States officials alleged Novo increased insulin prices 600% since 2001
“In 2021, U.S. Officials alleged that Novo Nordisk increased prices more than 600% between 2001 and 2019 in lockstep with competitors to the detriment of diabetics.”
Eli Lilly's United States insulin sales grew from $700M to $2.6B
“In 1999, I think it was, Eli Lilly sold seven hundred million dollars of insulin in America. 1999. By 2017, just two of their products sold 2.6 billion dollars in America.”
Chamath: Non-profit Civica will supply US insulin for $35 per dose
“They're in the midst right now of completing a massive facility. I think it's in Virginia, where they'll be able to make as much insulin as is needed for the entirety of America for no more than 35 bucks a dose.”
Cuban blames vertically integrated insurers, not manufacturers, for high insulin prices
“It's not the insulin manufacturers for the most part that are distorting everything.
It's the, these vertically integrated companies, not all are owned by insurance companies, but for the most part they are.”
Hurst: Insulin was given away for free before extreme price hikes
“So a drug that was discovered and made and given for free, you can look that up, was then later up priced so much that people were shorting their dosage because they couldn't afford to pay for it.”
Kidron: Oramed's oral insulin delivery technology was developed by his mother
“So we have a technology that was actually developed by my mother, who is a scientist, that allows us to protect the insulin from degradation, and to take it intact into the liver.”
Kidron: Oral delivery of proven drugs lowers risk versus novel chemicals
“Here, what we do is we're taking insulin that has been around for a long time, and we know that it works, and we have the ability to deliver it orally instead of an injection that we already proved in principle that that works. So that's why I think while ther…”