Or­chard se­cures re­im­burse­ment for gene ther­a­py; UK fines drug­mak­ers $47M for an­ti­com­pet­i­tive scheme

Or­chard Ther­a­peu­tics an­nounced this week that the com­pa­ny has agreed to a re­im­burse­ment deal with Eng­land’s NHS for cov­er­age of its gene ther­a­py Lib­meldy.

Al­though Or­chard didn’t say how much NHS would pay for the ther­a­py, the deal is no­table be­cause of the dif­fi­cul­ties gene ther­a­py de­vel­op­ers have had com­ing to terms with pay­ers, even when the ther­a­pies have been ap­proved. In the most high-pro­file ex­am­ple, blue­bird bio pulled all of its gene ther­a­pies out of Eu­rope last year, say­ing coun­tries were not of­fer­ing a price com­men­su­rate with the val­ue of its drugs for two rare blood dis­or­ders and a rare neu­ro­log­i­cal con­di­tion.

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