Opinion: Should employers take a chance on little-known Embarc to pay for gene therapy?
Curing deadly diseases by administering a one-time therapy that rewrites a patient's genetic code is no longer the stuff of science fiction. Paying for it won't be easy.
The promise of curing deadly diseases by administering a one-time therapy that rewrites a patient’s genetic code is no longer the stuff of science fiction. Yet this innovation comes with a steep price tag.
Zolgensma, approved for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), has a list price of approximately $2.1 million. Other gene- and cell-based therapies coming to the market have launched at prices in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
With dozens of gene therapy products in the pipeline, employers and health plans are rightfully concerned about how the evolution of gene therapy will affect their, a program that aims to provide employers and health plans with a predictable cost for gene therapy.
