Used to save people's lives
Soliris is a drug that is used to treat
paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH) and
atypical haemolytic uremic syndrome (AHUS). The two rare blood diseases that affect one to two people in every million people. The results of the disease, left untreated, is death. Soliris is a drug that has been proven very effective in its treatment of these diseases.
Alexion Pharmaceuticals owns Soliris. It's the only drug they own. A regiment of Soliris treatment consists of the drug being administered intravenously once every couple of weeks—for the rest of your life. The treatments in Canada cost upwards of $700,000 a year and the Canadian government, which is subsidizing the treatments for citizens in need, is tired of the exorbitant price: they are trying to get Alexion to pay back and lower the price of the drug. Alexion for there part, a company reported to be worth $34.5 billion, is not interested in all that noise:
Alexion Pharmaceuticals has filed a motion in Federal Court, arguing that Canada's drug price watchdog has no authority to force the company to lower its price for Soliris.
The company says in the court documents that the price of Soliris has not changed since it went on the market about six years ago and that the price difference between the two countries reflects the difference in exchange rates between the U.S. and Canada.
The price in Canada has been about $700,000 a year for a treatment, while in the U.S. it cost $669,000. But that's really a red herring here. It's estimated that the drug, for which most of its research was done in universities and paid for by public funds, costs the big pharmaceutical company about $60 a treatment to produce. The markup? It costs about $6,700 a treatment. There's profit and then there's profiteering.
While Soliris is not a cure, it can stop the assault on the body's tissues and organs. Since patients typically need to take the medication indefinitely, it can cost tens of millions of dollars over a lifetime.
Due to the high cost, some patients in Canada can't get the drug. Only some provinces will cover the cost of treatment and there are different criteria to qualify for coverage in various jurisdictions.
The good news is that you can totally live for up to a decade untreated! Your life will feel pretty terrible but Alexion needs to make money, guys—you understand.
Watch the news piece below the fold. It's about Soliris and drug companies throwing their weight behind patients in order to get governments to pay for life-saving drugs and the need for a movement for governments to push back on pricing and price gouging.