GSK mum on Strimvelis pricing model

GlaxoSmithKline plc (LSE:GSK; NYSE:GSK) spokesperson Anna Padula declined to say whether the company would use a novel pricing scheme for ultra-Orphan disease gene therapy Strimvelis ( GSK2696273), citing a confidential agreement with the Italian Medicines Agency (AIFA). Last week, GSK said Strimvelis' price would be EUR 594,000 ($663,679) and that AIFA agreed to reimburse the treatment, but did not reveal whether the cost would be payable all at once or over time (see BioCentury Extra, Aug. 4).

Padula told BioCentury GSK priced the drug to make "one-time treatment costs" affordable through "established payer mechanisms," and said payers told the pharma the product would likely be paid for "on a case-by-case basis without the need for a potentially complicated pricing arrangement." ...