All the manufacturer needs do is change 1 tiny thing in a drug, and the FDA will extend the Patent thus keeping generics off the market.
What ins company will pay for these drugs? Not Medicare, Medicaid, Military ins. They are ALL NEGOTIATED PRICES. YOU HAVE NO RIGHT OF APPEAL. WE ARE MEDICARE/TRICARE LIFE, RETIRED CAREER MILITARY OVER 65. THEY TELL YOU WHAT YOU CAN CHOSE. My SIBO antibiotic could only be filled at the Navy Pharmacy as it is around $1,550 for 14 days. I had SIBO 3 times last year. It couldn’t be filled anywhere else. Nor can we add discounts to lower the cost. No dental, vision, hearing, unless it is Service Connected, Spouses don’t apply, If vision, dental, or hearing is Service Connected is it covered under Disability. We make to much with 2 SS, Navy Pension, his teacher’s pension, as he was smart enough to get out after 20 yrs and go to college and get a teaching degree for what he taught in the Navy, and we have to pay Federal Income tax on that. We owe only basic bills so NO deductions.
At $2.1 Million, New Gene Therapy Is The Most Expensive Drug Ever https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2019/05/24/725404168/at-2-125-million-new-gene-therapy-is-the-most-expensive-drug-ever Novartis set the price at $2.125 million but offers insurers the ability to pay $425,000 a year for five years. This price tag makes Zolgensma the most expensive drug ever approved.
Based on the AveXis studies, the FDA approved Zolgensma Friday, making it only the second gene therapy ever approved for a genetic disorder. There are currently around 700 patients eligible for the treatment, according to Novartis, and roughly 30 babies are born each month with the disease.
The single biggest reason for the high cost of this drug is the fact that the number of doses the company will sell is very small Do the math. If it cost $1 billion to develop this drug and get it through the FDA approval process, then this cost has to be spread among the 700 existing patients and 30 new patients per month. If Novartis has 12 years of patent protection for this drug, then this $1 billion development cost has to carried by only about 5,000 patients. That's a $200,000 cost per patient just for this drug alone -- which means it doesn't include all of the other costs Novartis has to cover over those 12 years for the testing and research of drugs that are never approved by the FDA.
How much do you think an iPhone or a Toyota SUV or a box of Corn Flakes would cost if Apple, Toyota, and Kellogg's only sold 5,000 of them over 12 years?