cbaker_admin
Thu, 07/23/2020 – 15:30
An economic evaluation calculated U.S. overspending on glatiramer acetate during the 2.5-year lapse between the end of market exclusivity and the start of full generic competition. Before the manufacturer’s right to market exclusivity for daily injections of the multiple sclerosis treatment expired in 2015, it released an alternative 3-times-per-week formulation that was widely adopted and allowed it to maintain control of the market. Copycat versions of the 7- and 3-day injections finally hit the market in late 2017, ending the brand’s run. The analysis, based on a national cohort reflecting 40% of the U.S. market for glatiramer acetate, found that prices for and spending on the disease-modifying therapy rose during 2011–15 and did not abate even with the introduction of generic competition for daily injections during 2015–17. Prices came down 47-64%, however, and spending decreased substantially once generic competition became available for both daily and 3-day regimens during 2017–19. The economic evaluation, performed by colleagues within the Program on Regulation, Therapeutics, and Law at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, determined that the delay in full generic competition may have harbored excess spending of $4.3 billion–$6.5 billion. Policymakers should consider blocking manufacturers from pushing back generic competition by released a new version of an existing treatment, the authors write. Rather, they suggest, more limited incentives might encourage them to reimagine existing therapies in ways that better reflect the level of investment and risk involved and that place less of a financial burden on the health care system.
