Can PTC get away with a $35,000 price tag on a cheap, old overseas steroid for Duchenne?
PTC Therapeutics $PTCT thinks it can roll out the steroid deflazacort for $35,000 a year, undercutting the $89,000 price that pushed Marathon Pharmaceuticals to the center stage of a US drug pricing scandal.
The biotech bought deflazacort from Marathon for $140 million in cash plus a possible $50 million milestone, betting that they could spring into the US market with the steroid. It’s been available overseas for about $1,000 a year, leaving the Duchenne parents who had been acquiring it for a low cost steaming over the inflated US price.
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