Novartis Gets Approval for Its New Drug

Novartis, a Switzerland-based Pharmaceutical company, can now sell its gene therapy drug for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), as it has got approvals from the US. The new drug is believed to be the most expensive since it is priced at $2.125 million.

Dubbed as Zolgensma, the new drug will treat SMA among infants and children under the age of two. The Department of Food and Drug Administration gave the green signal to sell the new drug.

The cost of the Zolgensma was defended by the company’s executives. They said that the treatment is cheaper than the yearly long-term treatments that would cost a lot more.

The company has discussions about the drug in 2018, estimating its treatment would be cost-effective at up to $5 million for a single patient.

According to the (ICER) - the estimated costs for the new treatment were very high. ICER stands for Institute for Clinical and Economic Review.

This Friday, ICER stated that according to additional clinical data of the company, the broad FDA label and its launch price, it believed that the drug fell within the upper bound of its range for cost-effectiveness.

The new development is a major boost to the healthcare industry. Nowadays, researchers are giving their best shot to innovate high tech drugs at effective costs.