Mer­ck launch­es the lat­est Her­ceptin knock­off; Har­vard spin­out grabs a $5M seed round

→ Mer­ck is the lat­est big play­er to field a biosim­i­lar of Her­ceptin. The phar­ma gi­ant re­port­ed to­day that it launched On­truzant at a 15% dis­count to the list price of the orig­i­nal. The list price — which doesn’t in­clude dis­counts to pay­ers — is “ap­prox­i­mate­ly $1,325 for the 150 mg sin­gle-dose vial and $3,709 for the 420 mg mul­ti­ple-dose vial.”

→ The FDA has pro­vid­ed its or­phan drug des­ig­na­tion to For­ma Ther­a­peu­tics for its lead drug — FT-4202 for sick­le cell dis­ease. The drug ac­ti­vates pyru­vate ki­nase-R. Or­phan drug sta­tus brings a 7-year stretch of mar­ket ex­clu­siv­i­ty and oth­er in­cen­tives.

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