Somewhere, Somehow, Someone’s Going to Pay…for Gene Therapy
This is a unique point in time for healthcare. After decades of dedicated and dogged research by the scientific and medical communities, we are now seeing FDA approvals of gene therapies which can ease or cure a myriad of debilitating diseases. While biopharma companies seek to recoup their R&D costs, the market will struggle to price these treatments, particularly those developed for small and very targeted patient populations. Who and what will determine the cost to the patient? Big Pharma? Government? Insurers? Payers? Manufacturers? Many would say that the cost is more than just what the market will bear, as it will also need to encourage continued innovation, which is arguably, implicit. The next step is to collectively and thoroughly explore and understand the myriad pieces to this emerging “pie” – from there, the current challenges will be made clear, and we can then proceed in this new frontier.
Images are licensed under Creative Commons License.
