ST. PAUL, Minn. – The long-debated Emergency Insulin Bill that’s been debated two years in the Legislature has taken firm form. As drafted for House and Senate consideration, the bill would put insulin manufacturers under financial pressure to provide the life-saving hormone to people who can’t afford it. The drug-makers would be fined $200,000 to $600,000 a month for noncompliance. Drug companies had opposed the bill as unconstitutional taking of personal property. Insulin prices are set by manufacturers Lilly, Sanofi and Novo-Nordisk. Lilly’s Humalog was introduced in 1995 with a vial at $21. Inexplicably a vial now runs $270.
Almanac: Alec Smith Act