Lilly pulls back the insulin pricing curtain (a touch)

Both political pressures and widespread public discontent are taking their toll on insulin makers. In response, one of them, Eli Lilly, just disclosed some pricing data for one of its top diabetes drugs, Humalog.

Lilly claims the price it was paid for Humalog has fallen 8.1 percent over the past five years, after factoring in rebates and other such discounts. The net price, then, for the Lilly drug is now $135 per patient per year — down from $147 in 2014. However, the average list price has increased 51.9 percent to $594 per patient per month.

Lilly, like many other drug makers, argues that although list prices are rising, the portion paid in rebates and discounts is rising faster. So, by that logic, the onus of the drug pricing quagmire falls on the shoulders of the middleman.