Most expensive
medicines in world
When people talk
about expensive drugs, they usually are referring to drugs like Lipitor for
high cholesterol ($1,500 a year), Zyprexa for schizophrenia ($7,000 a year) or
Avastin for cancer ($50,000 a year). But none of these medicines come close to
making Forbes’ exclusive survey of the most expensive medicines on the planet.
The nine drugs on
our list all cost more than $200,000 a year for the average patient who takes
them. Most of them treat rare genetic diseases that afflict fewer than 10,000
patients. For these diseases, there are few if any other treatments. So biotech
companies can charge pretty much whatever they want.
9. Myozyme
The cost: $100,000 to $300,000 per year
Myozyme is a
medication used to treat a rare but debilitating disease called Pompe. Pompe
attacks the skeletal muscles and the heart of the patient.
8. Acthar
The cost: $300,000 per year
Acthar is a
medication used to treat seizures in infants under the age of two. Because the
Food and Drug Administration has not approved Acthar, not only is it hard to
obtain, but insurance companies will not usually cover it. All of this results
in high cost, and sales of over three quarters of a billion dollars a year.
7. Folotyn
The cost: $320,000 a year
Manufactured by
Allos Therapeutics, Folotyn is used to fight a rare and aggressive cancer,
T-cell lymphoma. The patient is subjected to a six-week regimen of Folotyn as a
last ditch effort to stop the disease. Although sales for the medicine exceed
$50 million annually, the drug has not been shown to prolong life appreciably,
making it an extremely costly last-resort attempt.
6. Cinryze
The cost: $350,000 a year
Cinryze is used to
treat angioedema, a hereditary disease affecting as few as 1 in 50,000 people
in the U.S. Angioedema causes swelling of the hands, throat and abdomen. Made
from human blood, Cinryze has been shown to be a fairly effective medication
for the disease.
5. Naglazyme
The cost: $365,000 a year
Naglazyme is used
to treat a children’s disease known as Maroteaux-Lamy syndrome, which affects
connective tissue. Sufferers of the syndrome have improperly developed muscles,
joints and tissues, often resulting in dwarfism. Children with the disease also
suffer from heart disease and sometimes neurological damage, eye damage,
deafness and brain damage. Naglazyme has been shown to help promote joint
mobility and tissue growth.
4. Elaprase
The cost: $375,000 a year
At a price that
exceeds most houses, Elaprase treats Hunter syndrome, a rare condition
affecting approximately 500 people in the U.S. An inherited disease, it
inhibits physical growth and brain development.
3. Vimizim
The cost: $380,000 a year
Vimizim is an
enzyme replace treatment used to treat Morquio A syndrome, a disease affecting
only about 800 people in the U.S. The syndrome prevents the sufferer’s body
from breaking down long-chain sugar molecules, resulting in abnormal heart and
skeletal development, dwarfism and other serious defects.
2. Soliris
The cost: $440,000 a year
Soliris wins the
prize as the most expensive drug in the United States. Unlike many of the drugs
on this list, at least Soliris can claim to be a very effective drug, treating
paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria, a disorder affecting about 8,000
Americans. The disease destroys red blood cells, making the patient susceptible
to infection, anemia and blood clots. Soliris helps alleviate these
complications by up to 90%. Soliris also has proven helpful in treating
atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome, another rare and occasionally fatal
condition.
1. Glybera
The cost: $1.21 million a year
“Most Expensive Drug in the Entire World” is Glybera, a drug so far not
approved in the U.S. but recently approved in the European Union. Glybera is a
gene therapy used to treat a condition called familial lipoprotein lipase
deficiency, a disease affecting only about one in 1 million people. In the EU,
fewer than 200 people are affected by it. The deficiency causes extremely
painful swelling of the pancreas.
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