On Thursday, September 25, 2025, T1International brought policy leaders, advocates, and patients together at NYU Law for “Fixing a Broken System: The Path to Public Pharma in New York,” a major public event highlighting the urgent need for publicly controlled pharmaceutical production to counter skyrocketing drug prices.

Speakers included NY State Assemblymember Jenifer Rajkumar, former NYC Health Commissioner and CUNY Professor Dr. Dave A. Chokshi, Dr. Kasia Lipska of the Yale School of Medicine and the Yale Institute of Global Health, and New York #insulin4all Chapter Leader Max Goldberg a patient directly affected by the high cost of insulin. Together, they made the case that New York can, and should, take bold steps to ensure that essential medications are produced for people, not profit.

“A vial of insulin costs about $6 to make, but it’s then sold for $300. The pharma industry inflates prices, PBMs play middleman, and people with diabetes pay the price. The market is not broken by accident; it’s built this way to benefit corporations while patients go without. That’s why we need public pharma, a structure that puts people before profit,” explained T1International Executive Director, Shaina Kasper.

This event comes at a time when nearly one in three Americans report skipping an insulin dose due to cost. With California already advancing plans to manufacture generic insulin, advocates stressed that New York must act now to place the health of its residents above the interests of Big Pharma.

“Public pharma can protect providers and patients from supply shortages and soaring prices, and augment the government’s ability to both regularly serve residents and swiftly respond to crises,” said Dr. Dave Chokshi, former NYC Health Commissioner, CUNY Professor, and provider at Bellevue Hospital.

A central focus of the event was the New York Affordable Drug Manufacturing Act, which would empower the state to manufacture and distribute low-cost insulin as well as other crucial medicines. By authorizing publicly owned production, this bill could save the lives and money of patients, private purchasers, and taxpayers.

“The problem is not high manufacturing costs, that it costs too much to create these drugs—the problem is simply market failure. There is not enough competition in the market. Only a handful of companies are manufacturing these drugs, even though 90% of prescriptions are generic. With so little competition, Big Pharma can price gauge. And they can do it even with old, cheap-to-make drugs, like insulin, like antibiotics, like epinephrine. These drugs cost just a few dollars to make. This is not innovation, it is monopoly abuse!” explained NY State Assembly Member and bill sponsor Jenifer Rajkumar.

The next legislative session begins in January, and advocates in the New York #insulin4all Chapter urged New Yorkers to contact their legislator in support of the bill. Speakers emphasized that grassroots pressure is essential to ensuring that the law passes the Assembly, paving the way for public pharma in New York.

“Fighting and winning public pharma is something that will have an impact beyond our own access to insulin, beyond New York, and even beyond drugs and drug pricing. It will show the entire country that people who are fed up with a broken and brutal and illogical health system– which is so many of us– can come together and bring about something better,” explained Max Goldberg, NY #insulin4all Chapter Leader.

Click here to listen to the audio of this event.

The event was organized by T1International, the NY #insulin4all Chapter, NYU Law’s Science, Health, and Information Clinic, the Engelberg Center on Innovation Law & Policy, and The Health and Political Economy Project of the New School's Institute on Race, Power, and Political Economy.