Walmart to launch its own insulin brand

June 29, 2021 2 min read

Walmart is expanding into the healthcare market. The company announced that, although it already had a brand of diabetes products called Relion, within it they will begin to sell insulin at an affordable price.

Nearly 11% of Americans have diabetes, according to the American Diabetes Association , and many have a hard time getting it because of the prices. This leads people to make risky decisions for their health such as rationing their intake of medicine.

To reduce this problem, Walmart will sell its product below 75% of the prices at which it is sold in companies with which it competes. The new brand will be called ReliOn NovoLog and is produced by Novo Nordisk. Each bottle will cost $ 72.88 (equivalent to 1,450 pesos) and each FlexPen, the device with which insulin is injected, will cost 85.88 (equivalent to 1,700 pesos). At the moment three companies control 99% of the insulin market, so there are not many options for diabetics.

The sale will begin this week and will be available at Sam’s Club in mid-July, but at the moment it will only be sold in the United States. Tracey D. Brown, executive director of the American Diabetes Association says they support any initiative that makes medicine easier to access.