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Wednesday January 3, 2018

// January 3rd, 2018 // Comments Off on Wednesday January 3, 2018 // Daily News

The $850,000 drug whose price tag will surprise Wall Street … for being less than expected

Spark Therapeutics’ Luxturna will cost $850,000 for a one-time treatment.
The gene therapy treats a rare, inherited retinal disease that can lead to blindness.
Spark also unveiled a set of payment and access programs, including tying payments to how well the therapy works and exploring payment by installment.
These programs could serve as a model as more one-time treatments come to market.

CNBC.com

The price is for Spark Therapeutics’ Luxturna, approved by the Food and Drug Administration in December to treat a rare, inherited retinal disease that can lead to blindness. The Philadelphia-based biotechnology company also revealed Wednesday morning a set of payment and access programs, including tying payments to how well the therapy works and exploring payment by installment.

The treatment is delivered just once, a facet of gene therapy that poses unique pricing questions in an industry fueled by steady payments for chronic therapies.

“It’s wildly expensive but, to be very frank, I think they’ve priced it what I’ll call responsibly,” said Dr. Steve Miller, chief medical officer of pharmacy benefits manager Express Scripts, which is partnering with Spark on distribution and specialty pharmacy services for Luxturna. “The product is just phenomenally innovative, and we’ve been talking about gene therapy for over 20 years. We’re now at the threshold of having gene therapy reaching patients.”

Wall Street expectations for Luxturna’s price were around a million dollars, and Spark’s $425,000 for each eye comes in under that mark.

“It came down to the value we believed was inherent in the therapy,” Spark Chief Executive Officer Jeff Marrazzo said in an interview. He, as well as Miller, spoke with CNBC ahead of the announcement on condition the information not be published until the news was public.

“We also heard and did market research with payers … and wanted to take into account the questions and challenges they had about affordability,” Marrazzo continued. “Ultimately this is about access.”

Gene therapy involves the delivery, using a modified virus, of a healthy copy of a gene to make up for one that’s deficient in a way that causes disease. In the retinal dystrophy Spark aims to treat with Luxturna, which the company estimates affects between 1,000 and 2,000 people in the U.S., mutations in a gene called RPE65 lead to impaired vision that deteriorates over time.

In clinical trials, patients’ sight was assessed by their ability to navigate an obstacle course in different levels of light. Those receiving Luxturna showed significant improvement in their ability to do so at low light after a year.

Patients who participated in the trial also described, in interviews and in testimony to a panel of FDA advisers, seeing snowflakes for the first time, or being able to read again.

A new form of medical treatment brings with it new challenges, not only in its price. Marrazzo said Luxturna will only be available at half a dozen treatment centers in the U.S. throughout this year, so Spark will ensure financial support and logistics for travel and accommodations.

The company also outlined several plans for new payment models that Marrazzo says aim to ensure access for patients, recognize the value of the product for Spark, and remove extra cost and risk for insurers and hospitals.

One is an agreement with Harvard Pilgrim, a non-profit health plan covering 1.2 million people, to pay rebates if a patient’s vision doesn’t meet certain thresholds in 30 to 90 days, and then 30 months after treatment, under a model known as outcomes-based pricing.

“What’s important and unique about the product is not just standing behind the efficacy but behind the long-term durability from a single dose,” Marrazzo said.

Another recently approved one-time therapy, Novartis’ Kymriah for a form of leukemia, also has an outcomes-based pledge: if the treatment isn’t working after a month, Novartis doesn’t get paid. That treatment is priced at $475,000.

Both Kymriah and another one-time cancer treatment approved in 2017, Gilead’s Yescarta, are referred to by the FDA as gene therapies because they involve genetically modifying patients’ own immune cells to identify cancer. They’re known as CAR-T therapies.

Luxturna is the first of a crop of treatments that target diseases caused by mutations in specific genes, and thus is referred to by many as the first gene therapy in the U.S.

Spark also announced a program Wednesday, through a partnership with Express Scripts, to offer a way for insurers to purchase Luxturna directly, avoiding a so-called buy and bill model in which treatment centers administering a drug must purchase it upfront.

The goal is to both remove the risk for treatment centers in purchasing, handling and waiting for reimbursement of expensive products, and to alleviate for insurers potential markup costs imposed by the treatment centers, Marrazzo explained.

Today’s Inspiration

JANUARY 03, 2018

Don’t Have an Exaggerated Opinion of Yourself
– by Joyce Meyer

The Bible repeatedly warns us against pride. And I cannot emphasize enough the danger of pride. See, when we give in to pride, we give the enemy a place of great influence over us.

When we think too highly of ourselves, it causes us to value others less, forget to trust God, and ignore the truth that we’re really nothing without God.

This type of attitude or thinking is detestable to the Lord. We must have a holy fear of pride and remember that we’re special and valuable because God loves us and has forgiven us, not because we can accomplish great things on our own.

It’s important to understand that whenever we excel in any area, it is only because God has given us the gift of grace to do it. The moment we think we’ve accomplished great things in our own strength, we’re getting into pride.

Remember, we belong to God. Instead of having exaggerated opinions of ourselves, let’s focus on God’s greatness and His love for us. It’s by His grace alone that we can succeed in doing whatever He’s calling us to do.

Monday December 11, 2017

// October 26th, 2017 // Comments Off on Monday December 11, 2017 // Daily News

US weekly jobless claims total 233,000, vs 235,000 claims expected

The number of Americans filing for benefits increased less than expected last week.
The data suggested the labor market continued to tighten after recent hurricane-related disruptions.
Initial claims for state unemployment benefits increased 10,000 to a seasonally adjusted 233,000 for the week ended Oct. 21, the Labor Department said on Thursday.

Today’s Inspiration

Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever!
2 Peter 3:18

God graciously gives us faith to believe in Jesus. And we want to keep going forward in faith and not become stagnant or slide backward.

But we have this assurance in God’s Word: just as believing faith in Jesus comes to us as a gracious gift from God through the Holy Spirit, growing in faith also comes to us through God’s grace and the Spirit’s work.

Now, we can’t make ourselves grow spiritually, but that doesn’t mean we are totally passive ­either. Somehow we participate with the Holy Spirit in growing spiritually.

In today’s verses, Peter urges his readers and us to make every effort to grow. The Spirit works in us to cultivate our faith when we listen to God’s Word, through meditating on it and hearing it proclaimed in times of worship. The Spirit works in our hearts when we turn to our Lord and Savior in prayer for our needs and for the needs of our world. The Spirit also constantly works in us to respond to opportunities to show God’s love and share our faith with others.

Encouragement to grow in faith can’t be said any better than the Spirit has put it through Peter: “Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever!”

Holy Spirit, we praise and thank you for your gift of grace. Please continue to soften our hearts and mold our wills to serve and glorify our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.