Are you familiar with the history of insulin from porcine to using recombinant DNA technology? I think we’ll be wading in the shallows a little without that. The Wikipedia articles should be quite thorough.
Perhaps a quick self test would be to hypothesize the cost of Novolog before this law and then look up the price in old archives.
I usually do these self-tests to check whether my belief systems are accurate. But if you don’t want to, I’m not one to chastise. I just wouldn’t want to converse.
I don't like conversing with people who spend more effort condescendingly implying they're correct than making a point. But I’m not one to chastise if that's how you like to talk.
Novolog in 2024 is cheaper than almost any point in the history of (that version of) the drug. "Strangely", Novolog and competition (eg. Humalog) increase prices almost in perfect lockstep, for decades, dramatically outpacing inflation, which is not typically how prices look in a competitive market. Decades after the "cost of research" should be priced in. The obvious reason for this, is that the drug is a medical necessity and consumers can't shop around, so typical market dynamics don't work, allowing companies to raise prices without repercussions. Furthermore, drug companies voluntarily stopping production of cheaper, older, off-patent insulin products - not a single one has been stopped for safety reasons, and clinic benefits of new products since the 1921 patent are minimal.
In the 2020s, US politicians started publicly criticizing drug companies for their prices of insulin. Then they introduced a slew of bills intending to cap the price at $35/mo - a 70% reduction. Several bills failed to be passed, but one managed to pass. In that time, all major insulin manufacturers announced they were "voluntarily" reducing their prices to $35/mo (or lower) - set to take affect the same time as the above mentioned law.
Not sure how you think the history of insulin technology really relates to this, other than the 1982 recombinant DNA insulin was promised to be cheaper? It doesn't work meaningfully better for most patients. When recombinant DNA insulin ("human insulin") was first sold in the US in 1982, it was priced at $0.5/day (1.5 in 2024), while traditional "animal" insulin was closer to $0.3/day (0.95 in 2024). It was special because it promised unlimited supply, with minimal risk of shortages. Eli Lilly said, in 1982, that they expect the price to drop over time. The first time that it was cheaper (inflation adjusted) was 2024 when the new US law went into affect. Oh, this only applies to the US, elsewhere the prices have been low and dropping consistently, even from Eli Lilly.
What's truly damning, is that the clinical benefits of the insulin invented since that first University of Toronto $1 patent version is pretty minimal compared to the UT version from 1921. You can make snide comments of "wading in the shallows" discussing new technology, but the original patent would still have provided comparable medical outcomes to the millions of people who need insulin in 2024.
Is it possible you're defending the actions of a giant corporation that raised the prices of a medically necessary drug out of greed, and now you're re-writing history for them to justify your defense? Maybe you need to devise a new self-test to check your belief systems.
Perhaps a quick self test would be to hypothesize the cost of Novolog before this law and then look up the price in old archives.
I usually do these self-tests to check whether my belief systems are accurate. But if you don’t want to, I’m not one to chastise. I just wouldn’t want to converse.