ST. PAUL — Minnesota lawmakers are considering steps they could take to rein in the soaring cost of insulin, which one couple says has become so expensive that their diabetic son could no longer afford it and died.

State Sen. Matt Little convened an informal discussion at the state Capitol on Tuesday to gather information ahead of the legislative session that begins next month. The Lakeville Democrat said the cost of insulin is “immorally high” and that there appears to be no rational reason for the cost increases. He said he has drafted several bills aimed at controlling insulin costs, including one that would cap prices in the state.

James Holt Jr. and Nicole Smith-Holt, of Richfield, told lawmakers how their 26-year-old son, Alec Smith, died last year because he couldn’t afford his monthly diabetes supplies after he became too old to remain on their health insurance plan.

“I can imagine how scary it was for Alec to walk out of that pharmacy without his life-saving insulin,” his mother said. “He left that day because he did not have the $1,300 that the pharmacist was charging him for insulin supplies.”