In the days before insulin, there was nothing to do for people with type 1 diabetes. Frederick Banting and his colleagues decided to give away their discovery of insulin as a free drug. But over time, private enterprise entered the picture in an attempt to make insulin more widely available. The company that discovered insulin sold its patent for $1; it's now worth billions.
Insulin was the poster child of overpriced life saving drugs, but a manufacturer finally capped the cost at $35. Vox’s Dylan Scott explains how pharmaceutical companies for decades managed to overprice drugs Americans desperately needed.
This episode was produced by Haleema Shah, edited by Amina Al-Sadi, fact-checked by Laura Bullard and Matt Collette, engineered by Patrick Boyd, and hosted by Sean Rameswaram.
Transcript at vox.com/todayexplained
Support Today, Explained by making a financial contribution to Vox! bit.ly/givepodcasts
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices