HHS inspector general signs off on Novartis paying for pricey Kymriah
The Office of Inspector General (OIG) of HHS recently told Novartis that it can pay for low-income patients to access its $475,000 CAR-T therapy Kymriah and that those payments are not illegal.
While acknowledging that the payments might induce certain treatment centers and physicians to use the one-time gene therapy, or push eligible patients to select federally reimbursed items and services related to the treatment, the OIG praises the effectiveness of Kymriah and explains how access to it is available in every care setting, which means the payments won’t inappropriately steer a patient to one center over another.
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