Over the last few years, new technologies have inspired a wave of biotech startups developing gene therapies. Now, one of the field's leading lights is worried about sticker shock for the treatments working their way down the pipeline. No wonder: They're likely to cost $1 million-plus. So, how about a new payment model for these therapies?
One of the biggest hurdles gene therapies face, writes James Wilson, a notable gene therapy researcher at the University of Pennsylvania, is that they may work too well. Where the pharma industry now makes billions off long-term care for the chronically ill, a one-off gene therapy could partially or completely cure a disease. And with the kind of rare diseases they're focused on, biotechs looking to market these drugs may want to charge millions of dollars to make the economics work. Wilson and CVS Health CMO Troyen Brennan have some ideas for how payers can foot the bill. Read more at FierceBiotech >>