Is anyone here still following IMGN. I've seen no bad news, except the stock price. It appears to me that a few drugs should be moving up to higher level trials the next several months, and it's practically certain that IMGN will opt into Biotest's drug on completion of the current Phase II. Price may be down as Kadcyla sales haven't grown as expected, but I believe they will, it's clearly the superior drug. Roche needs to negotiate prices that foreign govts. will accept, but likewise here in the U.S. we should be paying less as well, even if Medicare prevents negotiations.
Kadcyla is certainly superior to Herceptin. If they priced it just slightly higher than Herceptin, it would replace Herceptin in practically every application generating perhaps $7 billion. You could make the case that it's not yet approved for all those applications, but I believe if it was priced slightly above Herceptin, Insurance companies would willingly permit its off label use as its greater effectiveness could actually reduce treatment time for those whose conditions could be cured. Expansion of its label in other cancers could easily grow annual sales to $10 billion a year, or more. This won't happen if the price is dramatically higher than Herceptin, but a reasonable price could lead to tremendous sales throughout the world.
On a personal note, my use of Gleevec may end shortly as the tests have shown increasing levels of the Philadelphia Chromosome in my white cells. Still under a tenth of a percent, but well above what was previously achieved. I may go on Sprycel again, with it's negative side effects, but their are other choices. One of them that I read about had the same objections as Kadcyla, it was priced so highly that Doctors and Insurance Companies balked at using it. If it's the only drug that proves effective without the side effects, it may be authorized for me, but frankly I believe it's price should be lowered even if the cost to me is the same.
When it comes to pricing, even generics have been going crazy. My daughter routinely purchased a generic at Costco for under $20 without insurance, suddenly the price went to $130. I've heard of other drugs that are shortly to come off patent, but while the developmental costs have been paid back numerous times, the sale price of the drug has more than tripled over time. I believe it's time that some regulations be place on the industry. I also believe that higher sales volume could easily offset the cost of lowering prices dramatically.
Personally I routinely buy the Costco brand of all sorts of drugs. Costco generally sells the name brand for substantially more, but still less than you'll pay at other stores. I won't say their is no benefit to Aspirin with the Bayer label, but I believe it's very minor. Aspirin has probably been around for a century or more and they still keep finding new applications. They also do a great job in convincing the public that the brand to buy is Bayer. I suspect a bottle of Bayer Aspirin today adjusted for inflation is still as high or higher than the price when it first hit the market. I suspect Bayer's greatest cost in making its aspirin may be the packaging, it would be interesting to learn if I'm right.
Gary |
