PBMs Weigh Coverage of New Muscular Dystrophy, Hemophilia A Gene Therapies

The FDA last month approved two new gene therapies for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) and hemophilia A, and major PBMs tell AIS Health, a division of MMIT, that they have not yet decided how to cover the new treatments. If current trends are any indication, health plans will impose strict utilization management requirements and attempt to negotiate outcomes-based reimbursement pacts with the treatments’ manufacturers.

The FDA on June 22 granted accelerated approval to Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc.’s Elevidys (delandistrogene moxeparvovec-rokl), the DMD treatment. It will have a list price of $3.2 million. BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc.’s Roctavian (valoctocogene roxaparvovec), for hemophilia A, gained full FDA approval on June 29, and will have a list price of $2.9 million. Both therapies are administered as a one-time dose. Roctavian also typically requires an indefinite period of simultaneous treatment with corticosteroids to reduce patients’ immune-system response to the gene therapy.

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Peter Johnson

Peter Johnson

Peter has worked as a journalist since 2011 and has covered health care since 2020. At AIS Health, Peter covers trends in finance, business and policy that affect the health insurance and pharma sectors. For Health Plan Weekly, he covers all aspects of the U.S. health insurance sector, including employer-sponsored insurance, Medicaid managed care, Medicare Advantage and the Affordable Care Act individual marketplaces. In Radar on Drug Benefits, Peter covers the operations of (and conflicts between) pharmacy benefit managers and pharmaceutical manufacturers, with a particular focus on pricing dynamics and market access. Before joining AIS Health, Peter covered transportation, public safety and local government for various outlets in Seattle, his hometown and current place of residence. He graduated with a B.A. from Colby College.

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