Bluebird’s Fast Lyfgenia Launch Was A Year And A Half In The Making; Medicaid Talks Continuing

Zynteglo Build Gives Firm A Leg Up In Sickle Cell Disease

When Zynteglo was approved for beta-thalassemia, bluebird said launch would lay groundwork for sickle cell gene therapy Lyfgenia. The strategy is paying off so far with a fast ramp-up. Outcomes-based contracts for Lyfgenia give payers rebate based on hospitalizations over a three-year period.

DNA helix 3D illustration. Mutations under microscope. Decoding genome.
Bluebird's sickle cell gene therapy Lyfgenia launched in January • Source: Shutterstock

Bluebird bio inc.’s sickle cell disease gene therapy Lyfgenia (lovotibeglogene autotemcel) won US Food and Drug Administration approval on the same day in December as Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated/CRISPR Therapeutics AG’s competing gene-editing medicine Casgevy (exagamglogene autotemcel), but a month later bluebird’s product is in the lead in terms of qualified treatment centers (QTCs) ready to administer the drug and the number of patient lives covered by payers that have agreed to reimburse Lyfgenia’s multimillion-dollar cost.

Key Takeaways
  • Bluebird is in “advanced discussions” with 15 different state Medicaid agencies on Lyfgenia coverage.

  • Outcomes-based agreements with state and private payers may follow expected publication of value rationale for Lyfgenia’s $3.1m price tag.

  • Despite its higher price, Lyfgenia to date has 35 qualified treatment centers ready to administer the sickle cell gene therapy in the US versus nine centers ready to administer Vertex/CRISPR’s gene-editing medicine Casgevy

The company said when it won FDA approval for its beta-thalassemia gene therapy Zynteglo (betibeglogene autotemcel) in August 2022 that the product’s launch would lay the commercial groundwork for its other gene therapies, particularly for its sickle cell disease program

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