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PATIENTS     PHYSICIANS     THIRD PARTY PAYERS     HOME     national biological phototherapy blog facebook

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 ,00 0 to $35,00 0 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 $24,00 0 to $45,00 0 a year for every patient who achieves a 75 percent reduction in psoriasis severity. Achieving similar reductions with phototherapy, $3,00 0 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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