Surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy have always formed the therapeutic arsenal to combat different types of cancer. However, in the last decade, a new type of treatment that begins to position itself as one of the most promising alternatives to put an end to the disease: immunotherapy, which modifies the patients’ immune system cells to detect and destruct the cancer causing cells.
Recently, the Food and Drug Administration has approved two types of CAR-T immunotherapies used to treat leukemia—Kymriah, from the pharmaceutical Novartis, and Yescarta, from Gilead, both with prices near 400 million dollars per treatment. “These new therapies open up a promising path in the fight against cancer, but they also mark a starting point of prices that will be taken as a reference for future CAR-T treatments,” says Roberto Sabrido, the president of the Association for Fair Access to Medicine.
The American market prices of these medicines are habitually taken as a reference when it comes time to commercialize them in Europe and, therefore, Spain. The It’s not Healthy campaign has mailed a letter to the presidents of Novartis and Gilead in Spain and their headquarters to convey the enormous concern with the prices of these new therapies and to know the criteria that have been used to set the prices.
Kymriah of Novartis: $475,000
A few weeks ago, the pharmaceutical company Novartis announced the launch of its new CAR-T therapy Kymriah against acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), a type of bone marrow and blood cancer that, according in to the Food and Drug Administration, particularly affects the infant population and whose results could be promising for kids and young adults under the age of 25.
“This finding is promising, but has been overshadowed by the concern generated by its high cost: $475,000 for treatment, ” adds Elena Urdaneta, general coordinator of Doctors of the World. In addition, its FDA approval is based on a clinical trial involving only 63 patients, generating doubts on its efficacy and safety. “A high-risk innovation model is being consolidated characterized by weak evidence and exorbitant and inaccessible prices,” Carlos Ponte, spokesperson for No Gracias. “A model that in the short and long term seriously threatens the sustainability of national health systems,” adds José María González, health coordinator of the Organization of Consumer and Users (OCU).
Yescarta of Gilead: $373,000
At the end of August, Gilead also announced the purchase of Kite Pharma for $11.9 billion and, with it, the purchase of all of their immunotherapy innovations. Among them, Yescarta, the second CAR-T therapy that has been FDA approved for the treatment of a type of leukemia in adults. $373,000 per treatment is its entrance price. The application for authorization in Europe is expected by the end of this year.
“We are very concerned about the price trend we see with these new therapies. That is why we think transparency about the real investment in R&D by companies seems so important. In addition, one thing is the investment in biomedical innovation and another is the sale of companies under speculative logic,” says Vanessa López, Director of the Rights to Health Foundation.
Research with public money
The issue with the exorbitant price that has opened up the market for these new treatments, is linked to the lack of public return on investment of therapies that have been developed in numerous public centers around the world with funds proceeding from the of taxing of citizens. In the USA alone, public institutions have invested more than $200 million since 1993 in the development of these therapies.
It’s not Healthy has asked the companies about the criteria used for the fixation of the prices of these therapies, especially in at such an incipient moment, and their investment in R&D separate from the investment for the purchase of license.
Letter mailed to Gilead and Novartis
