Novartis’s $48,000 Pill Spurs U.S. Price Increases for MS Drugs
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The prices of multiple sclerosis medicines have risen as much as 39 percent since last year, even as competition intensified with the introduction of the first pill to treat the disease.
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. said it raised the price of its MS drug, Copaxone, to about $42,300 a year, a 39 percent jump since January 2010. In September, Novartis AG won approval for Gilenya, pricing it even higher at $48,000, in part because it’s the first drug in pill form, while the other treatments must be injected or infused. As analysts say Gilenya will take a significant share of the market, charging more for the older therapies is a way to keep revenue steady when unit sales erode.