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There's been a development in the fight against ALS.
On Friday, the FDA approved a new drug called Radicava or edaravone, which is the 1st new drug in 20 years to treat ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis) also known as Lou Gehrig's disease. For those that don't know what exactly ALS is, per usual, I got your back!
Radicava was developed in Japan, isn't a cure for ALS, however it can slow down the worsening of the disease. When the drug was 1st created, it was used to treat those who'd had strokes. Radicava is administered via IV and given in 2 week doses followed by a 2 week break. Sounds great right? Well, the downside, Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma America has said that the drug will cost more than $1,000 per infusion. According to the company, "If taken annually for 12 months or 13 cycles, according to the dosing and administration in the label, the cost before government discounts, will be $145,524. We will offer co pay assistance for commercially insured patients to help reduce their out of pocket cost. The price of Radicava is @ the mid point for an orphan drug in the US and represents the investments MT Pharma America is making to deliver it to US patients." Another down side, the drug can have severe side effects, that include:
Remember when everybody was doing the ALS challenge to raise money for research? It would be nice if all the money that was raised could go towards reducing the cost of the drug. It's like people who have been diagnosed with this disease have been given hope that the effects can be slowed down, then you see the price and that hope disappears. And with the way healthcare is going, hope fades more and more. Hopefully, maybe a generic can be made of the drug, so it can be accessible to people.
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