Anthem declines to cover Exondys 51

Anthem Inc. (NYSE:ANTM) said it will not cover newly approved Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) treatment Exondys 51 eteplirsen from Sarepta Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:SRPT). In a medical policy note, Anthem said the therapy is "investigational and not medically necessary."

Last month, FDA granted accelerated approval to Exondys 51 to treat DMD amendable to exon 51 skipping. Sarepta priced it at a net annual cost of $300,000 for a 25 kg boy. The drug is a phosphorodiamidate morpholino (PMO) that induces skipping of exon 51 dystrophin mRNA (see BioCentury, Sept. 26). ...