Biden: Insulin's Inventor 'Decided Not to Patent It.' The 1923 Patent Says Otherwise (March 15, 2023)

In Las Vegas, President Joe Biden told a medical crowd a story about insulin. “For example, insulin was invented a hundred years ago. And the guy who invented it decided not to patent it because he wanted it to be available,” he said. “It only costs $10 a vial to make—$10 a vial” [1].

The inventors did patent it. U.S. Patent No. 1,469,994, granted on Oct. 9, 1923, lists Frederick G. Banting, Charles Herbert Best and James Bertram Collip as inventors, according to the patent record [2].

Then they sold it for a token price. “Banting sold the patent rights for insulin to The University of Toronto for $1, claiming that the discovery belonged to the world, not to him,” according to the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame [3].

The video above shows the end of Biden’s March 15, 2023, remarks on prescription drug costs in Las Vegas. Quotes are from the official transcript published by the American Presidency Project [1].

”A Lot More Coming”

Near the end, Biden admitted voters had not felt his promises. “Look, what the American people understandably—a lot of people have lost faith in Government for a lot of reasons. And here’s the deal: We’ve promised these things, and they haven’t seen it,” he said [1].

He pointed to one change. People came up to him “after January 1 saying: ‘I cut—you cut my insulin costs. Thirty-five dollars,’” Biden said. “But there’s a lot more coming. A lot more coming” [1].

He also joked about his popularity. His plan, he said, is “a hell of a lot more popular than I am.” The crowd laughed. “But I’m serious,” Biden said [1].

”$35 for Seniors on Medicare”

The insulin cap was real. “So, beginning January 1 of this year, even though we passed the law last year—it wasn’t until January 1—I kept telling people it was coming—we capped the cost of insulin at $35,” Biden said, for “seniors on Medicare” [1].

He offered a state number. “And, folks, if it had been in effect in 2020, nearly 11,000 Nevada seniors would have saved an average of $439 on their insulin,” he said [1].

He also said Medicare would gain “the same power that the Department of Veterans Affairs has” to negotiate drug prices [1].

”Not Any Support on the Other Team”

Biden credited the Inflation Reduction Act and noted it passed without Republicans. “Last year, I proposed a piece of legislation called the Inflation Reduction Act, which I could—we got—[ applause ]—we got a lot of things done bipartisanly. This one was—there was not any support on the other team at all,” he said [1].

He listed what it did. “The result of the law is that seniors on Medicare get common vaccines for things like tetanus, whooping cough, shingles—they get them for free now. It used to cost them up to $200 per shot, average $100 per shot,” Biden said [1].

“We’re capping out-of-pocket drug expenses for seniors on Medicare at a maximum of $2,000 a year, beginning next year,” he said, and he called for capping insulin “for everyone, you know, including 200,000 children who have type 1 diabetes who need insulin every day to stay alive” [1].

”Not Your Father’s Republican Party”

He also touted expanded Affordable Care Act subsidies, “saving millions of people about $800 a year.” “And my new budget for this year makes that permanent,” Biden said [1].

Then he turned on the GOP. “This is not your father’s Republican Party. This is a different breed of cat now that’s in charge,” he said [1].

“We’re strengthening Medicare and Social Security instead of threatening to eliminate them, and the MAGA Republicans that are in Congress want—are threatening to do,” Biden said [1].

A month earlier, Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., had answered that charge by amending his plan. “Note to President Biden, Sen. Schumer, and Sen. McConnell – As you know, this was never intended to apply to Social Security, Medicare, or the US Navy,” the amended plan said, Fox News reported [4].

“550 Companies of the Fortune 500”

Biden also claimed credit for shrinking the deficit. “And by the way, you know everybody said, well, how was I able to have these new programs and still cut the deficit $1.7 trillion the last 2 years? Well, it’s pretty—pretty straightforward. There were 550 companies of the Fortune 500 that made $40 billion that didn’t pay a penny in tax,” he said [1].

The Fortune 500 has 500 companies. Biden went on: “I said they ought to pay a minimum of 15 percent. Fifteen percent. That’s less than you all pay. And guess what? It allowed me to cut the deficit.” [1]

The timing does not work. The Inflation Reduction Act’s corporate minimum tax “imposes a 15% minimum tax on the adjusted financial statement income (AFSI) of large corporations for taxable years beginning after Dec. 31, 2022,” according to the IRS. It could not have cut deficits in the two years before it took effect [6].

The deficit was going the other way. Treasury’s year-end figures show it at $1.375 trillion for fiscal 2022 and $1.695 trillion for fiscal 2023, the year Biden was speaking in [7].

He also spelled out the billionaires’ tax rate. “You know what the average Federal tax they pay is? T-h-r-e-e percent. Three,” Biden said [1].

By the Numbers

1923: the year insulin’s U.S. patent was granted [2].
$1: what Banting took for the patent rights [3].
$10: what Biden said a vial of insulin costs to make [1].
$35: the insulin cap for seniors on Medicare, per Biden [1].
11,000: Nevada seniors Biden said would have saved in 2020 [1].

What Happened Next

Trump went after drug prices worldwide. On May 12, 2025, President Donald Trump signed Executive Order 14297, “Delivering Most-Favored-Nation Prescription Drug Pricing to American Patients” [5].

“Americans will no longer be forced to pay almost three times more for the exact same medicines, often made in the exact same factories,” the order said. “Americans must therefore have access to the most-favored-nation price for these products.” It promised: “My Administration will take immediate steps to end global freeloading” [5].

The order said the United States “has less than five percent of the world’s population and yet funds around three quarters of global pharmaceutical profits” [5].

For Biden’s attack on Scott’s plan a month earlier, see HYGO News’ page on “the boy looks like he can still play”.