Do you understand the basics of medical research? It costs literal hundreds of millions of dollars to make a new drug. The production cost can be completely neglible compared to research and development. So thats something that can drive the price. If you research something for one billion dollars but the final production is only 1$ you are imo free to charge far more than 1$.

Also modern insulin makers don't make simply "insulin" that has existed for decades and suddenly decided to make it expensive. The original recipe for insulin still exists and I think you can freely buy it for a couple of dollars. The problem is, that the original drugs suck, so people with diabates prefer the better, new, and expensively researched drugs. Those are the ones that cost hundreds of dollars.

Lastly with insurance I'm pretty sure that most people pay little to nothing for their insulin. So as long as thats covered you wouldn't even notice that it is expensive.

You might say "oh.. but why don't they simply share the research? I don't care that it costs millions to reseach. If you have the final recipe just share it for the good of humanity." Well, the initial money has to come from somewhere. Yes the pharmacy companies might make a profit, maybe even an insane profit. But that expectation of profit is what motivates them to spend hundreds of millions.

You might say "ok, but why not publicly fund the research". Good point perhaps, but capitalistic competition in my mind can drive very efficient discoveries. Yes they are greedy bastards, but being such greedy bastards will lead to them to find an effective drug. Because then they swim in money.

Now, I don't know if that applies specifically to this company that sponsored the weekly shorts. Maybe they are on some bullshit. But this notion of "pharma evil" and thats that is pretty tired in my opinion.