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I'm Mina Kim.

California will offer insulin for just $11 a pen starting next year.

It's the fulfillment of a promise Governor Gavin Newsom made three years ago

that the state would contract directly with drug manufacturers

to dramatically reduce the cost of the diabetes medication.

In a statement announcing the release, Newsom said,

No Californian should ever have to ration insulin or go into debt to stay alive.

For more on this, and other medications that could become available under the state-run program,

known as CalRX, were joined by April Domboskey, KQED's health correspondent. Hi, April.

Hello, good morning. So help me understand how dramatic a reduction in cost, $11 per insulin

pen is. That's right. And the pens are going to be sold in a pack of five. And so they'll be

sold to pharmacies for $45, and the suggested retail price

is $55, which is how you get to $11 per pen. And to compare to what is already on the market,

the range for these pens is $88 up to $411.

And the brand of pen that is most aligned with the insulin that the state is going to be producing

is about $92 for the list price.

So you're looking at almost half the price.

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