Biohackers Aiming to Mass Produce Insulin

Frankly, I don’t see the Open Insulin Foundation’s work as a solution to America’s problems, which are in the regulatory domain rather than the manufacturing/technology domain. I would see their progress as valuable for developing nations and locations that struggle to maintain consistent supply chains. That’s where small-scale insulin manufacturing could become quite valuable.

Despite the headlines, generic insulin is relatively cheap. You can go to Walmart and buy a vial of generic insulin for $25 right now if you want to. No prescription required. (Source: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/insulin-walmart-vial/ ). I don’t know if I see any open-source alternatives getting approval and also competing with that on price.

Certain insulin analogs are currently very expensive due to patent protection or, more recently, lack of competition. Walmart is also scaling up production of a generic insulin analog that won’t be $25 cheap, but will still be much cheaper than the full-price brand name version.