I want to know the economics of this, especially since California is partnering with the actual company that's building and running the factories. Is this insulin expected to sell at a profit? Break-even? Or is California just spending its own money to get the price point down?
The biosimilar insulin initiative is by design priced to cover end-to-end costs (the CalRx own program costs and the cost to manufacture); the main contracted manufacturer (CivicaRx) is also a nonprofit generic drug manufacturer, but the initial supply that will be available in January is something they've subcontracted with Biocon Biologics for (my understanding is that this is because the Biocon product already has FDA clearance, whereas regulatory clearance for CivicaRx's product is still pending, though the manufacturing is up and running.)
