Remember that new gene-based therapy for childhood leukemia that was approved by the FDA this past summer? (See this blog, July 15, 2017). Novartis, the company responsible for developing the therapy, has finally put a price to it; $475,000 for a full treatment regimen, according to an article in The Guardian.
Consumer groups are worried that prices such as this will usher in a whole new era of expensive medical treatments. At some point we have to ask - is the price for a health- or life-saving procedure just too high? How will we pay for such treatments? If health insurance companies cover the treatment, then surely they'll recover their costs by raising the price of health insurance for us all.
The company claims that the price is justified by its need to earn a return on its investment. Hmmm....
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