Opinion: Why didn’t nonprofits and the NIH require ‘reasonable’ pricing for Zolgensma? That may happen in France
When a new drug emerges from research largely funded by grants from charities and government agencies, who gets to set the price? In the U.S., that question seems to have been answered — the drug company that makes it. As I’ve learned from a poorly redacted filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the answer may be different in France.
In May, the FDA approved Zolgensma, a gene therapy for young children with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA). Its maker, Novartis, set the price at $2.1 million, roughly nine times the median sale price for a home in the U.S. and 33 times the national per capita income.
