The CEOs of Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk and Sanofi will testify before the Senate about lowering insulin prices

Management of three pharmaceutical companies that control 90% of the world insulin trg will testify before the Senate Health Committee on May 10 about the price cuts diabetes drugs, chairman of the committee Sen. Bernie Sanders said Friday.

These companies – Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk and Sanofi — announced in March that they would cut back prices of their most widely used insulin products by 70% or more.

Sanders on Friday called the move a significant step forward, the result of “public outrage and strong grassroots efforts.”

The Vermont independent added, however, that Congress needs to make sure insulin, the price of which has risen more than 1,000% since 1996, is affordable for everyone.

“However, we must ensure that these price reductions work so that every American can get the insulin they need at an affordable price,” Sanders said in a statement announcing scheduled testimony from Eli Lilly CEO David Ricks, CEO of Sanofi Paul Hudson and Novo Nordisk CEO Lars Fruergaard Jorgensen.

The companies’ insulin versions cost at least $275 before the announced price cuts, Sanders noted.

Eli Lilly declined to comment when asked about the intended treatment. A Sanofi spokesman said the company supports cost-cutting efforts and believes other parts of the healthcare system need to do more to help patients. Novo Nordisk said its CEO looked forward to “a productive and collaborative discussion on this important issue.”

Management of three major pharmacy benefits managers CVS HealthExpress Scripts and Optum Rx also testify, according to Sanders’ office. Those executives are David Joyner, president of CVS Health Pharmaceutical Services; Adam Kautzner, president of Express Scripts; and Heather Cianfrocco, CEO of Optum Rx

Pharmacy benefit managers are intermediaries who negotiate drug prices with manufacturers on behalf of health insurance plans. PBMs have come under fire for inflating drug prices and not passing on all the discounts they negotiate to consumers.

The Department of Health and Human Services estimates that 17% of patients who used insulin in 2021 had to be dosed due to high costs.

According to HHS, about 19% of insulin users with private insurance have restricted the drug, compared to 29% of uninsured insulin users.

The decision by drugmakers to lower insulin prices came a month after the president Joe Biden called on Congress to cap insulin prices at $35 a month in his State of the Union address.

Biden’s inflation-reduction bill imposed that cap on people on Medicare, the government’s health insurance program for mostly senior citizens, but the bill did not include people with private insurance.

According to HHS, more than 2 million people with diabetes who take insulin are privately insured.

And about 150,000 patients taking insulin lack insurance, the department says.

On Thursday, two senators, Jeanne Shaheen, D-NH, and Susan Collins, R-Maine, introduced bipartisan legislation that would require private Health Insurance cap prices at $35 per month for at least one of each type of insulin and dosage form. The bill also contains other measures to reduce prices.

Types of insulin include rapid-acting, short-acting, intermediate-acting and long-acting, and pre-mixed. Dosage forms include vials, pens and inhalers.