Marathon Pharmaceuticals’ pricing of a drug to treat genetic muscle deterioration in about 15,000 Americans, mostly boys, is raising concerns in Congress where lawmakers repeatedly have challenged drug companies.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., complained on Monday that Marathon Pharmaceuticals plans to charge $89,000 a year for a drug that’s widely available abroad for about $1,000 a year.
"We believe Marathon is abusing our nation’s ‘orphan drug’ program, which grants companies seven years of market exclusivity to encourage research into new treatments for rare diseases – not to provide companies like Marathon with lucrative market exclusivity rights for drugs that have been available for decades," Sanders and Cummings wrote in a letter to the company.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the drug last week to treat patients with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. While the steroid is commonly used globally, the FDA’s action represents the first approval of Deflazacort for use in the U.S.
The two lawmakers say that "exorbitantly" pricing potentially life-saving medications hurts patient access and drives up prices for the entire health care sector.
The company said it would respond to the letter later Monday.
Lawmakers challenged Mylan NV last year for its EpiPen pricing, which has climbed more than 500 percent since 2007. CVS is now selling a rival, generic version of the EpiPen at about a sixth of the price of the life-saving allergy treatment.
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