The most expensive drug on the planet has been approved in the US

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The gene therapy drug has become the second drug in history to be approved for spinal muscular atrophy. The drug's manufacturer plans to sell it for $1.2 – $5 million.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a new gene therapy drug for the treatment of spinal muscular atrophy. It is set to become the most expensive drug on the planet, with a top price tag of up to $5 million. The drug is called Zolgensma, from pharmaceutical giant Novartis. It is only the second drug ever approved for the disabling disease. The first drug, called Spinraza, is also expensive for patients, costing $750,000 per dose. Before the advent of this drug from Biogen, spinal muscular atrophy was generally considered an incurable disease.

However, so far, patients and their relatives have nothing to be particularly happy about. Neither in the USA nor in other countries of the world do they have real tools that would force pharmaceutical giants to live in accordance with reality and not set astronomical prices for their medicines. In addition, Biogen and Novartis are currently waging a marketing war, and the outcome of this confrontation may serve as a precedent for setting prices for the future when producing medicines for rare diseases.

We remind you that the cost of a medicine depends on many factors. First of all, on how high the demand for it will be. If the medicine is intended, for example, to treat a cold, then its potential customers may be hundreds of millions of people, and therefore the price will not be high. If the medicine is created to treat some rare disease, and the number of potential consumers is estimated at thousands of people, then the cost of the medicine will be prohibitive. Especially considering that pharmaceutical companies invest hundreds of millions of dollars in research, and many of their promising drugs never reach the market, failing to withstand tests. That is why companies need to compensate for the costs incurred.