Drug Industry’s VIP Pass Costs $125 Million and Climbing
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The most valuable part of tiny biotech Knight Therapeutics Inc.’s new treatment for a rare tropical disease isn’t the drug. It’s a $125 million piece of paperwork that came with its approval from the FDA.
When Knight’s drug, Impavido, was approved in March, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration awarded one of its first priority review vouchers -- the cornerstone of an seven-year-old program to entice drugmakers into developing medicines for diseases that sicken millions but are never likely to be big moneymakers. Knight agreed to sell the voucher six months later.