Posted by Michael Wonder on 15 Jun 2019
Bluebird Bio CEO defends $1.8 million price for gene therapy — ‘It’s really thinking about it differently’
14 June 2019 - He says the one-time treatment is a game changer for patients, giving them a “lifelong benefit” while avoiding costly blood transfusions ever few weeks for the remainder of their lives.
Bluebird Bio CEO Nick Leschly on Friday defended the biotech company’s $1.8 million price tag for its new gene therapy to treat a rare genetic blood disorder.
Bluebird’s therapy, Zynteglo, was approved in Europe earlier this month for patients with beta thalassemia who require regular blood transfusions to manage their disease and have no matching donor for a stem cell transplant. The price tag, set Friday, makes the drug the second most expensive in the world behind Swiss drugmaker Novartis’ $2.1 million gene therapy for spinal muscular atrophy.
