Posted by Michael Wonder on 09 Aug 2016
Gene therapy cure has money-back guarantee
9 August 2016 - The most expensive drugs in history, or medicine’s biggest bargains? Gene therapy could be both.
A gene therapy will be offered for sale in Europe with a money-back guarantee, according to GlaxoSmithKline, the company commercializing it.
The treatment, called Strimvelis, is the first outright cure for a rare disorder to emerge from gene therapy, and its price tag of 594,000 euros ($665,000), announced last week, makes it one of the most expensive one-time treatments ever sold by a drug firm.
Now, we’ve learned, it’s also the first genetic fix to come with a warranty.
“The drug has to deliver what you say or we don’t pay,” says Luca Pani, director general of the Italian Medicines Agency, known as AIFA, which set the price and terms during negotiations with the British drug giant. “If it does not work, they will return the money.”
