A new organization dedicated to eradicating high drug prices in the Netherlands has found what it believes is its first example — and will ask the government to investigate.
At issue is a medicine known as CDCA that is used to treat people with cerebrotendinous xanthomatosis, or CTX, a rare genetic metabolic disease. An earlier version had been available for decades at a low cost, but was purchased by a company that later took the drug off the market. Last year, however, the company was granted marketing exclusivity by regulators and, at the re-launch, boosted the price many times over.
Here is the background: Once known as Chenofalk, the drug was used for many years to treat gallstones and, after off-label use began in 1999, the annual cost was $360, according to the Pharmaceutical Accountability Foundation. But in 2008, the drug was sold to a predecessor of Leadiant Biosciences, which pulled the drug in 2015. Last year, though, the European Medicines Agency approved CDCA for treating CTX.
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