December 18, 2014
By Riley McDermid, BioSpace.com Breaking News Sr. Editor
Global drugmaker Amgen Inc is coming under fire Thursday, after saying the day before that a standard course of its new leukemia drug Blincyto would cost about $178,000 when it hits the market today, a price tag which has public health authorities and benefits providers crying foul.
U.S. regulators approved the drug only two weeks ago, saying on Dec. 3 it could be used to treat patients with an uncommon form of acute lymphoblastic leukemia, a fast-moving cancer in which the bone marrow makes too many B-cell lymphoblasts.
That stratospheric number makes it one of the world’s costliest drugs and is likely to make it a target for generic drugmakers looking to over the same lifesaving therapy for a fraction of the cost, particularly in the developing world.
India has recently had a string of Supreme Court decisions that overturned international pharmaceutical patents under the global Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights agreement. That regulation allows countries to issue compulsory licenses on certain drugs that are priced too high for most segments of a nation’s population.
For its part, Amgen quickly circled the wagons Thursday. Spokesperson Danielle Bertrand said in a statement that the price Blincyto is reflective of its two $89,000 cycles and the specialty of the market it is trying to reach.
“We believe the price reflects the significant clinical, economic and humanistic value of the product to patients and the healthcare system, for an ultra-orphan population with a dramatic impact on a serious illness,” Amgen said in an emailed statement. “The price also reflects the complexity of developing, manufacturing and reliably supplying innovative biologic medicines and local pricing, reimbursement and purchasing conditions and requirements.”
Thousand Oaks, Calif.-based Amgen is the second-largest American drugmaker. It will be facing stiff competition in the oncological space from companies offering cheaper therapies, though none quite so specialized for this particular form of leukemia. Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. ’s skin cancer drug Yervoy, costs $120,000 per course, which is four doses, and Merck & Co. ’s skin cancer drug Keytruda will cost $12,500 a month, or around $150,000 a year.
The National Cancer Institute estimates only 6,020 Americans will be diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in 2015.
