$99/vial in the U.S., $12/vial in Canada.

Insulin was discovered by Sir Frederick G Banting, Charles H Best and JJR Macleod at the University of Toronto in 1921 and it was later purified by James B Collip.

On 23 January 1923, Banting, Collip and Best were awarded U.S. patents on insulin and the method used to make it. They all sold these patents to the University of Toronto for $1 each. Banting famously said, “Insulin does not belong to me, it belongs to the world.” He wanted everyone who needed it to have access to it.

In recognition of their life-saving discovery, Banting and Macleod were jointly awarded the 1923 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Banting split his half of the Prize money with Best, and Macleod split the other half of the Prize money with Collip.

A 2018 study estimated it costs roughly $2 to $4 to produce a vial of analog insulin, the type used by most patients.

The average list price of insulin increased 11 percent annually from 2001 to 2018, with average annual per capita insulin costs now nearing $6,000.

Most of the insulin list price increases have gone to PBMs, the go-between companies.