Three pharmaceutical companies control the patent rights for the majority of insulin products on the market. These companies have over the past decade raised the price of insulin egregiously. As a result, many diabetics and their families are struggling to afford this life-saving medicine and, in some cases, taking desperate actions to get the medicine their life depends on.

Introduction It’s been a busy past few months at Open Insulin! We’ve had significant progress on all fronts, especially in moving the engineering of our organisms forward towards the point where production pilots can be started in collaboration with external partners. Details below.

We’re honored to have hosted the team from @freethinkmedia at @BUGSSlab for a look at what we’re doing! The video above discusses the high and rising costs of insulin and how it frames our organization’s mission and work. Check it out!

Open Insulin is working to make an open source protein purification system (FPLC), which is a key piece of equipment for manufacturing insulin, and one that is currently very expensive. Avery McLain spoke with Vadim Kimlaychuk, one of the lead engineers working on the FPLC project, about his work, as the first installment in a series of interviews we have planned with project participants and stakeholders.

Apply now to the 2021 Open Insulin Summer Internship for High School and Undergraduate Students! To help grow the project and give opportunities to those interested in learning about our work and volunteering in the future, the team is launching a second summer internship program.

The panel will be a discussion between groups that are taking different approaches to tackle insulin affordability. They will share about the work they’re doing, discuss ways to support each other, and share organizing tactics as well as challenges they’ve come across. Sunday, October 18th, Noon Pacific time on Zoom.