WASHINGTON – Arizona senior Senator Kyrsten Sinema cosponsored the bipartisan Affordable Insulin Approvals Now Act, which ensures Arizona families can access lower-cost, generic insulins.
“Promoting competition and bringing lower-cost generics on to the market will ensure Arizonans living with diabetes can afford the medication they need,” said Sinema.
In December 2018, the Food and Drug Administration announced it would stop reviewing generic competitors to insulin in March of 2020, and announced that any products still in the review process would be automatically denied.
Denying consideration to current drugs in the pipeline and preventing new drugs from being reviewed will significantly delay the introduction of lower-cost insulin products on the market. The Sinema-backed Affordable Insulin Approval Now Act extends the review deadline, allowing the Food and Drug Administration to continue reviewing generic insulins, ensuring Arizonans can access affordable medicine.
An estimated 41,000 people in Arizona are diagnosed with diabetes every year and an additional 1.8 million Arizonans are prediabetic.
Earlier this year, Sinema welcomed two Arizonans living with diabetes during a Senate hearing, highlighting the importance of efforts to treat diabetes. Sinema supports efforts to create expedited pathways for approval of generic and biosimilar medications. The bipartisan Affordable Insulin Approval Now Act takes meaningful steps toward helping ensure Arizona families can afford insulin through greater generic competition.
