Insulin shortage might be next supply chain crisis

Insulin could be the next supply chain crisis. It can be addressed with a mixture of new medicines and technologies, generics and government involvement.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention there are 37.3 million people with diabetes in the U.S. which is 11 percent of the U.S. population. An additional 96 million over the age of 18 have prediabetes. 7.4 million Americans with diabetes use one or more formulations of insulin and this number is growing. Unfortunately, the insulin supply is not. Just the opposite, in fact. 

The FDA announced just before the pandemic started, in February, 2020, that there was going to be a drug shortage including insulin due to the initial COVID outbreak in China. Insulin prices have skyrocketed 600 percent in the past 20 years, and at least three states, California, Washington, and Maine, have been passing legislation with the intention of producing their own insulin, as has Civica RX, a consortium of health care providers, insurers and philanthropists.