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Stock Watch: Are Gene Therapy Prices Too High For Success?

Pfizer Bows Out, Who Will Be Next?

 
• By Andy Smith

The promise of innovative therapies seems to have been constrained not by efficacy or safety concerns, but because the high price of treatments is incongruous with the reimbursement of short-course therapies.

Stock Watch Image, Andy Smith
ANDY SMITH OFFERS A LIFE SCIENCE INVESTOR'S PERSPECTIVE ON BIOPHARMA BUSINESS
Key Takeaways
  • Pfizer’s recent exit from gene therapies was not an isolated incident.
  • For big developers, advanced therapy sales are often de minimis compared with their total revenues, while reliance on advanced therapy revenues can result in commercial failure for smaller companies.
  •  Like new antibiotics, a large price that captures the lifetime of outcomes for short-course innovative therapies seems to be the barrier to commercial success.

Pfizer’s recent exit from gene therapies was not an indictment of the safety and efficacy of gene and cellular therapies

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