Up­dat­ed: Proven­tion prices drug to de­lay type I di­a­betes at $193K as FDA nod kicks off US launch with Sanofi

For the first time, the FDA has ap­proved a drug to de­lay the on­set of type I di­a­betes, po­ten­tial­ly giv­ing chil­dren, teenagers and young adults more time be­fore need­ing to take in­sulin.

Proven­tion Bio won FDA ap­proval on Thurs­day for its drug teplizum­ab — and, per a re­cent deal, it will be part­ner­ing with Sanofi to mar­ket the drug in the US un­der the brand name Tzield.

In an in­vestor call on Fri­day, the biotech re­vealed that it’s set the whole­sale ac­qui­si­tion cost for Tzield at $13,850 per vial. As most pa­tients will need 14 vials (some might need more), that trans­lates to $193,900 for the whole course of treat­ment. That’s slight­ly high­er than what an­a­lysts ex­pect­ed — for in­stance, SVB Se­cu­ri­ties an­a­lyst Thomas Smith es­ti­mat­ed net pric­ing of $115,000 and, based on that price, fore­cast­ed sales of around $40 mil­lion in 2023.

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