New Cancer Drug Approved

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The FDA has just approved the Novartis drug Kymriah, a groundbreaking treatment intended to cure a patient’s cancer.  The AWP cost is an estimated $570,000 and the WAC is $475,000.  This is the first gene therapy approved by the FDA; a one-time treatment using the patient’s own T cells to fight cancer.

Kymriah is approved to treat B-Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia in children and young adults (up to age 25) whose cancer has come back after previous treatment or resisted treatment altogether.   Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) is the most common childhood cancer in the U.S.  There are approximately 3,100 patients aged 20 and younger who are diagnosed with ALL each year and 15-20 percent of the patients do not respond to the current treatment available. This new treatment option has shown promising remission and survival rates in the clinical trials.

Twenty treatment centers have been selected for the administration of the drug with an increase to 32 centers by the end of the year.  Additional expenses are incurred when Novartis collects the patient’s T-cells for re-engineering and when the personalized Kymriah is administered.

The FDA is committed to helping to expedite the development and review of groundbreaking treatments that have the potential to be life-saving. Please read the full FDA release from the link below.

https://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm574058.htm

PBIRx has been exclusively providing intelligent solutions to clients in the management of pharmacy benefit costs since 1993. With a staff that includes IT personnel, actuaries, financial analysts, clinical pharmacists, attorneys, HIPAA Compliance Officers and many more experts, PBIRx’s mission is to create optimal health care outcomes while minimizing overall health care costs. For more information, please visit www.pbirx.com or call (888) 797-2479.