'No ex­cuse': ICER de­ter­mines As­traZeneca's new mon­ey­mak­er Soliris is vast­ly over­priced

The ink has bare­ly dried on As­traZeneca’s $39 bil­lion deal to swal­low Alex­ion back in Ju­ly. But in­de­pen­dent drug watch­dog ICER has been crunch­ing the num­bers, and it de­cid­ed that the star of the deal — rare dis­ease mon­ey­mak­er Soliris — is gross­ly over­priced for the treat­ment of an un­com­mon au­toim­mune dis­or­der.

ICER on Wednes­day re­leased its full re­port ex­am­in­ing the cost-ef­fec­tive­ness of Soliris (al­so known as eculizum­ab) in an au­toim­mune dis­ease called myas­the­nia gravis (MG). In pa­tients with the dis­or­der, an­ti­bod­ies de­stroy com­mu­ni­ca­tion be­tween the nerves and mus­cle, re­sult­ing in mus­cle weak­ness.

Unlock this article instantly by becoming a free subscriber.

You’ll get access to free articles each month, plus you can customize what newsletters get delivered to your inbox each week, including breaking news.

SIGN UP LOG IN BECOME A PREMIUM SUBSCRIBER