Posted by Michael Wonder on 19 Mar 2017
PTC sticks its face in a drug pricing wasp's nest
16 March 2017 - It's generally considered good sense to give wasps' nests a wide berth. But PTC Therapeutics just paid $140 million in cash and stock for the pleasure of sticking its face in one.
PTC on Thursday bought the Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) drug Emflaza from Marathon Pharmaceuticals. The drug is an old steroid widely and cheaply available in other countries. Marathon got FDA approval for it last month and proceeded to price it at a hefty $89,000/year. PTC is already under a cloud as it tries to get its own DMD drug Translarna -- which failed a key clinical trial in the disease -- approved in the U.S. This deal exposes it to even more risk.
