All this stuff about generic and biosimilars and the cost of insulin is just complicated. A "generic" typically occurs when a synthetic molecule used in a patented drugs loses patent protection and other companies can apply to produce the drug with the same active ingredient. This is what happened to metformin which can be purchased for $4/month now in generic form. But insulin can't have generic, it is a biologic so it will have a biosimilar. Humalog lost patent protection in 2013 and Lantus will lose patent protect next year but I don't expect there to be a wave of biosimilar insulin products. I expect there to be maneuvers to continue protection and raise barriers to generics and biosimilar. And actually biosimilar drugs for patent protected drugs can already apply to the US market.
These biosimilar biologics are in fact different that synthetic molecules. The courts have found that you cannot patent naturally occurring molecules and that definition has overshadowed biologics, drugs produced from natural sources and in particular using rDNA technologies. There was a good discussion of generics back in february. Biocon has a valuable portfolio of biosimilar insulins including biosimilar forms of Lantus, Novolog and Humalog. And they have obtained significant investment and partnership with other companies. But in the end, the business interests will win. If they are able to enter the US market it will be only after major investment and only if they can make major money off the move, all of which points to expensive products.
I've come to believe that we have little hope of getting inexpensive effective insulin when we let profit making companies control the market. Greed will assure that competition stays weak and prices stay high.