Novartis' shift to superpricey cell and gene therapies draws investor ire

It's not unusual for critics to challenge top drugmakers for price hikes on old drugs, but Novartis is contending with a different kind of pricing pressure from a Swiss shareholder activist group. In this case, it's the company's move into ultra-expensive, one-time treatments that has critics riled. At the Swiss drugmakers' annual meeting Thursday, the investment firm Actares questioned Novartis’ rollout prices on cell and gene therapies and whether they're sustainable for payers. The investors say they've been questioning drug prices for years, especially in cancer, but Novartis has taken the issue a step further by deciding to specialize in the new wave of treatments, starting with the cell therapy Kymriah it launched in 2017. Novartis believes six- and seven- digit prices for such drugs are “justified,” Actares said in a statement, according to a translation.
Novartis rolled out Kymriah at a list price of $475,000, and the company has said its forthcoming spinal muscular atrophy gene therapy, Zolgensma would be cost-effective at a price of $4 million to $5 million. The company hasn't announced a launch price for Zolgensma. Novartis CEO Vas Narasimhan said at Thursday’s meeting that the company prices drugs based on value and seeks a fair return for more R&D, according to Reuters.