Posted by Michael Wonder on 10 Dec 2019
Biotech companies defend prices of one-off gene therapy
9 December 2019 - Latest treatments with price tags as high as $2 million require new financing models.
A growing list of life-long and debilitating diseases can now be cured thanks to gene therapy, which deactivates or blocks defective genes and replaces them with healthy versions. As the first generation of treatments comes to market, their high prices have sparked controversy and forced a rethink about how to finance innovative therapies.
Luxturna, a one-time therapy for inherited retinal eye disease, costs $850,000 in the US and £613,410 in the UK, although a discount is applied through Britain’s National Health Service. Zolgensma, for spinal muscular atrophy, is priced at $2.1m in the US and Zynteglo, which targets a rare genetic blood disorder, costs $1.78 million.
