Eli Lily & Co. announced this week that they would be offering a half-priced and generic version of Humalog.

Humalog is a type of insulin, something that is critical to those with diabetes. Millions of Americans are affected by Type 1 and 2 diabetes. They have to supplement their body’s natural insulin because it either makes too little or none at all.

IU senior Murphy Wheeler has lived with Type 1 ever since he was in the sixth grade. He takes Humalog every day in conjunction with another insulin. He said he is not angry with Lilly for waiting this long to release a cheaper version.

“There has been a part of me in the past, I’ve had conversations with my parents about you know it is really expensive and a lot of the times it feels like you’re getting made to take certain insulins that you don’t think you need,” Wheeler said.

The IU senior said he is happy for the generic version but that he’s not over the moon because insulin is just one part of living with Type 1 diabetes.

“In general healthcare costs have risen exponentially,” Dr. Eric Orth said. “Diabetic medications across the board, not just the insulin, have doubled easily in the last few years and that’s a very very worrisome trend honestly.”

Orth is an endocrinologist, meaning he specializes in metabolism or the biochemical process that makes your body work, like turning food into energy.

Wheeler said he’s noticed that the drug prices were not heading in the direction he would like but he always assumed Lilly was marking up the price to adjust for an error in manufacturing or production.

“It just seems like a lot of extra expenses and it all piles on and there are a lot more expenses that go into the disease it’s not just the insulin it’s the supplies, you know you have testers and sensors and stuff like that that you have to spend money on and which they can get expensive as well”

Wheeler said that the expenses can be bothersome, but so too can just trying to live a day to day life while being diabetic.

As a diabetic, it is recommended he not skip meals and constantly check his blood sugar levels. But, he said, as a diabetic and college student, it can be difficult to live by these rules.

“It does take up a lot of time and you don’t really realize it especially if you’ve had it for a while,” Wheeler said.  “You kind of go through the daily routine but once you look at it in hindsight you realize there’s a lot of times during the day, just small points, small intervals, of time that you are managing it and it is a big part of your life no matter what.”