Posted by Michael Wonder on 27 Mar 2019
Novartis makes new MS drug cheaper than its older option
27 March 2019 - Swiss drug maker’s Mayzent will cost less than older Gilenya.
Novartis undercut the price on its established multiple sclerosis treatment with a pill to be introduced next week, a sign that change may be afoot in one of the areas of medicine most plagued by cost controversy.
The drug, Mayzent, will cost about $88,500 a year in the U.S. That’s about 7.4% less than Novartis’s Gilenya, the nearly decade-old pill that Mayzent is meant to replace at least in part. It’s the second recent case of a new multiple sclerosis medicine being priced below older therapies: Roche Holding AG introduced Ocrevus in 2017 at a 25% discount to an older drug it bested in clinical tests.
