Effective immediately, Eli Lilly is capping out-of-pocket costs on its insulin products at $35 a month. The price cap automatically applies to people with private insurance. Uninsured individuals who sign up for Eli Lilly's insulin value savings program are also eligible.
About 30 percent of Americans with diabetes who rely on insulin use an Eli Lilly product.
"Lilly is taking these actions to make it easier to access Lilly insulin and help Americans who may have difficulty navigating a complex healthcares system that may keep them from getting affordable insulin," the company said in a news release.
Eli Lilly's insulin price cap is in line with the Inflation Reduction Act — signed into law in August — which limited the monthly out-of-pocket cost for insulin for seniors enrolled in Medicare Part D. In addition to the price caps for consumers, Lilly is lowering the list price for its most commonly prescribed insulin products by 70 percent.
Experts told NBC News the move was driven by both political pressure and competition from companies aiming to disrupt the pharmacy industry, such as Civica Rx and Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Co.
"The company is reacting to a tremendous amount of existing and upcoming competition for these drugs," Stacie Dusetizina, PhD a health policy professor at Nashville, Tenn.-based Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, told NBC News.