Max Nisen, Columnist

Can a Drug's $500,000 Price Withstand Competition?

A challenger to Alexion’s Soliris will test whether new entrants can cut the out-of-control costs of rare-disease treatments.

January 7, 2020 at 5:02 PM UTC

By Max Nisen

Max Nisen is a healthcare analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence. He previously wrote for Bloomberg Opinion, Quartz and Business Insider.

A new anemia treatment from Apellis Pharmaceuticals may upend how the market works for a very special class of medicines. — A new anemia treatment from Apellis Pharmaceuticals may upend how the market works for a very special class of medicines.
Photographer: GP Kidd/Cultura RF

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Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s Soliris may be the most successful rare-disease medicine in history. Its approval in multiple conditions and an annual price tag that can exceed $500,000 propelled the drug to more than $3 billion in sales last year.

Now, for the first time, it looks like Alexion’s blockbuster will face serious competition.