This study seems to indicate the only reason why generic insulin isn't produced is because doctors don't want to prescribe "obsolete" versions. If you care about people not being able to afford it then the easiest and most moral way of giving it to them is to produce it yourself (an earlier off-patent version) and giving it to them. You don't and won't because that means you would need to pay for it yourself when this is really about having someone else (the 'greedy CEO') pay for it instead. This is always, always, always about having someone else pay for what you consider to be a problem. The fix is at hand as I've described, you can either fix it or you're just as greedy as the CEO.
Talk about blatant oversimplification as well.
Look at it this way: if you were an HIV/AIDS patient in 2019, would you want to settle for a drug that has been around since 1984, even though there have been far more effective drugs developed since then? The idea that the changes in insulin have been slim and incremental to the point of not making a difference is ridiculous.
I started taking daily insulin injections in 1984. I used the same two types of insulin (NPH and Regular) until almost 2008. At that time I had been buying GENERIC bottles of NPH and Regular at Walmart for about $22 per bottle as I had no insurance. In 2008 my doctor wanted to switch me to new insulin that had been developed, Lantus and Humalog. The retail cost on these bottles was around $350, and it has since gone up even higher.
This wasn't some scheme from big pharm that all the doctors are in on- this insulin indeed works better, is more timely and reliable, and gives better control of blood glucose levels, leading to lower hemoglobin A1c tests, less complications, and potentially a longer lifespan. It does not justify the pricing on it, but it's also not some grand conspiracy that insulin hasn't really changed since 1920.
But hey! If you can't afford the new fancy stuff that can only be made in a German lab, don't worry! You still have access to old, outdated drugs. No worries...the changes were only incremental to keep the patents rolling over. No biggie.
EDIT: Glenn1 if it is SOOOO easy to just crank out 'old versions' of insulin and it supposedly works just as well, why aren't any single one of the six million insulin-dependent Americans getting right on that? Why aren't YOU? You could be rich! You certainly have to be the first person to have thought of this in such simple terms...