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KaloBios announces new affordable pricing model, refuses to engage in “price gouging”

pharmafile | April 12, 2016 | News story | Manufacturing and Production, Sales and Marketing CEO, Drug pricing, KaloBios, Martin Shkreli, Shkreli, affordable, price gouging, price model, responsible 

Price gouging has become synonymous with drug costs in the US, with the infamous Martin Shkreli and troubled Valeant becoming the poster boys for aggressive pricing in the US medicines market.

Now, a company from which Shkreli himself was fired last December, KaloBios Pharmaceuticals, has announced a new pricing model which will guide the company’s current and future pipeline. This framework rejects any form of “price gouging” with a focus instead on affordability, transparency and reasonable return.

Key points from the new pricing model include: “affordable for patients and payers, transparent for stakeholders and delivers a reasonable return for the company taking the risk of bringing products to patients” and “in the case of benznidazole, for instance, the price will be cost plus a modest profit margin. We are not conducting original research on benznidazole and therefore do not plan to incorporate an “R&D premium” into the price.”

Referring to Chagas disease treatment, benznidazole, KaloBios plan to make the drug available at, or near, cost price in developing countries as well as developing access programs to ensure patients in need receive the medications. They also indicate that all patients, irrespective of their ability to pay will be able to avail of the drug if and when it becomes available in the US.

Cameron Durrant, chairman and CEO at KaloBios, says: “Our new pricing model is a commitment to define and develop transparent, responsible pricing for the products we hope to bring to patients in the future. Drug pricing is a big concern for all stakeholders in healthcare. We believe that our approach balances the needs of key stakeholders, including patients, clinicians, payers, NGOs, investors, policy makers and advocacy groups.”

Sean Murray

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