Today’s Managing Health Care Costs Number is
The cost per patient of orphan drugs is hitting a ceiling in Europe and Canada, although not in the United States.
Bloomberg News reports that the pharmaceutical company Alexion now charges $525,000 per year in the US for Soliris (Eculizumab), which is used to treat complement induced hemolytic uremic syndrome – which can otherwise lead to kidney and liver failure in children. Canada recently announced that it had ceased price negotiations with Alexion for the medication, which is therefore not available to Canadians.
The UK’s National Institute of Clinical Excellence reports that Alexion intends to market its next orphan drug, Kanuma at £492,000 per patient – almost $700,000. Kanuma treats children with lysosomal acid lipase deficiency. NICE has published a 283 page evaluation of the medication – and negotiated with the company to create alternative payment methods that will allow the drug to be sold to the National Health Service for an amount low enough to fall within the NICE guidelines for cost-effective medications
Alexion will bring proposals in the form of a Patient Access Scheme (PAS) to cap the annual cost of treating an individual patient and ensure that overall cost remains consistent with clinical benefit and the value
So prices (or access) are controlled in Canada with government regulation and price setting, and in the UK with a single purchaser. Not so in the US.
Bloomberg concludes:
The U.S. is pretty much stuck with high prices because the government has no authority to rein them in, and the FDA is not permitted to consider price in any way when making approval decisions.
