Study attempts to find out how India made expensive diabetes medicines affordable

A study by Chennai-based diabetologists has attempted to find out how India has managed to reduce the prices of new and expensive diabetes drugs and what lessons this could possibly hold for other low- and middle-income countries (LMIC). The study, ‘Making Modern Diabetes Medications Affordable and Accessible: Lessons from India for Other Countries’, was led by V. Mohan, chairman, Dr. Mohan’s Diabetes Specialities Centre, Chennai, and was published in the journal Diabetes Care.

Of the 589 million adults in the world with diabetes, 80% live in LMICs, the study noted. Modern diabetes therapies such as GLP-1 receptor agonists as well as SGLT2i (sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitors) improve cardiovascular and renal outcomes, while analogue insulins help reduce the risk of hypoglycaemia. However, affordability remains a barrier: diabetes requires lifelong care and management of complications.