Novartis opts for lottery to give free ex-U.S. access to Zolgensma

Novartis plans to use a lottery to select patients to receive Zolgensma for free when it launches its global expanded access program for the SMA gene therapy next month because it cannot supply enough to fulfill all of the requests its expects to receive.

“We have had increasing demand from families outside the U.S.” for access to Zolgensma onasemnogene abeparvovec-xioi since its May approval for spinal muscular atrophy, Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS; SIX:NOVN) said in a statement to BioCentury. The therapy, which Novartis gained via its $8.7 billion acquisition of AveXis Inc. in 2018, is under review in Europe. ...