Avonex and Plegridy 8%. Tysabri got a 3.5% price hike. This is on top of a 4% price boost in December 2015 and another 5% in May, 2016 for the first three drugs, and increases of 5% in July 2015 and January 2016 for Tysabri".
"What does this mean in terms of dollars?.....estimates a year of Tecfidera now costs about $83,000. Avonex and Plegridy........a price tag of about $81,000".
"Gilenya made by Novartis, and Serono’s Rebif are in the high-priced group. And, on January 1, Teva boosted the price of Copaxone, the top-selling MS drug, by 8%, bringing it to around $76,000 a year".
Happy New Year. So the effective MS cartel prevails, the drugs clearly have different levels of efficacy/risk, but if it comes with a lower price tag the risk of being seen as inferior?
This is surely too much risk and so price hikes all round and more spending on Marketing:-(.
When will this upward spiral stop?
Maybe once disruptors occur, but have generics made any impact?
The price hikes allow the generic makers to increase their prices too.
However, it does mean that NICE and NHS will be ensuring that approaval takes time and and pwMS won't be getting access to new treatments anytime soon.