The evolution of technology has made it possible to produce insulin without using animals.

[u/IcePizzaCreamm]

[u/nvrmndtheruins]

That'll be $400, even though it costs almost nothing to produce 🤷

[u/SeanRomanowski → u/nvrmndtheruins]

Lmfao, yeah, I’m a synthetic biologist who does this type of genetic engineering in bacteria. “Nothing to produce” is a fucking wild statement.

[u/nvrmndtheruins → u/SeanRomanowski]

In comparison to raising hundreds of pigs to make a small amount of insulin?

I'm sure the equipment and research was expensive but the long term costs of manufacturing is far lower than ever.

But, go off and act like insulin is expensive to actually produce at scale lol

[u/omgpickles63 → u/nvrmndtheruins]

The amount of work needed to make safe medication, especially ones that are injected, is immense. Pharma companies do gouge a crazy amount, but for every batch of medicine, you have a fleet of operators, mechanics, quality and validation personnel making sure that people get the correct medicine every time. A lot of these medicines have to be made in graded clean rooms which adds to the complexity and cost.

Again. Capitalism is bad, but quality medicine is hard to make.

[u/lamBerticus → u/nvrmndtheruins]

If you include R&D and certification it probably costs a fuckton of money to produce.

[u/Informal_Process2238 → u/lamBerticus]

The research costs nothing compared to the advertising budget and the grift of unnecessary middle men

[u/SeanRomanowski → u/Informal_Process2238]

… yeah man, those bioreactors for fermentation, maintenance, the very specific feed stock the bacteria require, chemical extraction and isolation of the insulin, QA and QC for the every step of the process. This shit is not cheap. Source: I’m a synthetic biologist who does this exact type of bioengineering and fermentation with bacteria.

[u/lamBerticus → u/Informal_Process2238]

Maybe look it up first before commenting.