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Biotech
Psoriasis Drugs Hit a Cost Ceiling
By ANDREW POLLACK Published: January 24,
2007 [read
full article]
Are biotechnology
companies reaching the limits of how much they can charge for their drugs? One
sign of that is the sluggish sales of drugs for psoriasis.
When the biotech
industry began rolling out psoriasis drugs a few years ago, experts heralded the
new medications as safer, more effective treatments for the skin disease. But
they may have overestimated the medical establishment’s willingness to spend
$10,000 to $35,000 a year on treatments for psoriasis, a condition that is
often, though incorrectly, perceived as merely a cosmetic problem.
Price is not the
only barrier. Dermatologists worry about the side effects of the drugs, not to
mention the vexation of trying to help patients seek insurance reimbursement.
Even many patients seem to have little enthusiasm for the drugs, which users
typically take by injecting themselves as often as twice a week. The
sluggish sales of the biotech drugs have already started taking a toll on their
makers. Manufacturers say they remain enthusiastic, though. And indeed,
the market is getting more crowded.
Another option is phototherapy, in which
the skin is exposed to ultraviolet light. Factoring in the cost of the
biologics and their success rate in clearing skin, researchers at Wake Forest
University and elsewhere found the drugs to be the least cost-effective.
[The new biologic drugs] cost from
$24,000 to $45,000 a year for every patient who achieves a 75 percent reduction
in psoriasis severity. Achieving similar reductions with phototherapy, $3,000 to
$7,500. The study was sponsored by Connetics, a maker of an older
psoriasis drug.
Insurers are usually
requiring “step therapy,” in which patients must try the less expensive
therapies first. Hoping to ease reimbursement, the National Psoriasis
Foundation, a patient advocacy group, and the American Academy of Dermatology, a
professional society, held a “summit on psoriasis” for insurers in Philadelphia
on Nov. 9.
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