As another SGLT2 diabetes drug hits the market, the obvious question is: How will it find a way to compete against formidable blockbusters Farxiga and Jardiance?
For its recently approved SGLT2 Brenzavvy (bexagliflozin), TheracosBio has a simple and powerful answer—with a price that undercuts the competition by roughly 1,000%.
Working through Mark Cuban’s online distributor Cost Plus Drug Company, TheracosBio will charge (PDF) $47.85 plus shipping and handling for a 30-day supply of Brenzavvy. The price is a stunning departure from the going rate for a monthlong regimen of Boehringer Ingelheim and Eli Lilly’s Jardiance ($578) or AstraZeneca’s Farxiga ($551).
Don’t rub your eyes. The decimal point for Brenzavvy’s price is in the correct place.
“We’re pricing below what the typical co-pay in this class is,” TheracosBio CEO Al Collinson, Ph.D., said in an interview with Fierce Pharma. “This provides an opportunity for lots of patients to either save money or to gain access to a drug that they otherwise couldn’t get.”
TheracosBio has spent more than 20 years trying to get a drug to the market. It finally happens today, July 13, as the Massachusetts-based company has announced the launch of Brenzavvy following FDA approval in January.
Since 2009, TheracosBio has patiently developed bexagliflozin in a cost-effective manner, Collinson said, proving it through 23 trials around the world financed from the long-standing support of a group loyal investors.
“They’re very willing to take a different perspective on return of investment,” said Collinson, who took over as CEO 14 years ago.
The company’s mission is to provide access to new medications for common diseases. TheracosBio believes it can meet its business needs through “appropriate” pricing, according to its website.
The company has a like-minded partner in Cost Plus Drug Company, which also aims to provide broader access to drugs at a low cost. According to Collinson, marketing Brenzavvy through a traditional pharmacy benefit manager would have been “really difficult to do.”
“What Cuban Company provides broadly for the population, but more meaningfully to us, is a direct sales route from the manufacturer to the user,” he added. “And in doing that, cutting out a lot of the fat that goes to the middleman right now.”
Brenzavvy is a once-daily 20-mg tablet taken in conjunction with diet and exercise in adults with Type 2 diabetes, including patients with stage 3 chronic kidney disease.
SGLT2 inhibitors help lower blood sugar by preventing the kidneys from reabsorbing sugar created by the body, which then leaves through the urine. The class has become a fixture in the treatment of Type 2 diabetes since Johnson & Johnson’s Invokana scored approval in 2013.
Trial results indicate that Brenzavvy could have an advantage over other SGLT2s on the market in treating Type 2 diabetes patients with renal disease.