Why Insulin?

At Project Insulin, we are working to disrupt a system that only works well for the college-educated, the insured, and the financially secure, leaving out the vast majority of uninsured, insulin-dependent Americans. Insulin should not be available only to those who are financially secure or insured. Healthcare is a human right.

Our approach is to create a high-quality generic insulin and sell it directly to patients at cost. Project Insulin (PI) is a non-profit organization developing a biosimilar insulin that will be distributed to patients at cost through our own mail-order pharmacy. By outsourcing drug development and being the distributor, we will cut out many intermediary organizations, allowing PI to enjoy the efficiencies of being a vertically integrated organization (see images below).  We will provide broad insulin access to those who are insulin-dependent, regardless of their insurance status, first targeting the uninsured and underinsured. 

In the United States, 58M people cannot afford their prescription drugs. we spend more than $14B a year on insulin, and the average American is taking out over $9,000 in debt to afford their insulin. There are over 8 million people in the United States who are insulin dependent. Of that population, 16%, or 1.3M, are rationing their monthly supply of insulin due to costs.  Project Insulin’s mission is simple – alleviate the burden of these 1.3 million and eventually help the entire insulin-dependent population through a biosimilar insulin that will be sold at cost regardless of insurance status. 

We won’t get far without your help, our community. Currently, our priority is to raise $400,000 to complete the first year of drug development. If you know anyone who might be interested in making insulin affordable for everyone, please reach out to EMoyal@projectinsulin.org