| WASHINGTON, D.C. — The following statement was issued by David Mitchell, a cancer patient and founder of Patients For Affordable Drugs, in response to the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of Mylan’s Semglee as an interchangeable biosimilar to Sanofi’s long-acting Lantus (glargine) insulin:
“The FDA’s approval of Semglee as an interchangeable biosimilar to Lantus is an important step forward on the road to real competition that can lead to affordable insulin for everyone who needs it to live. But we still have a long way to go.
“While Semglee’s $98 price tag offers competition to Lantus’ $283, nearly $100 for an essential drug that costs approximately $4.50 to make is still too expensive. We need insulin prices that include a reasonable profit on top of the marginal cost of production — not 2,000 percent mark-ups. Semglee offers an alternative for only a fraction of the diabetes community — we need competition from interchangeable, less expensive options for all modern forms of insulin.”
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