The FDA approved Gilead’s CAR T-cell drug Yescarta on Oct 18. The annual cost of Yescarta has been set at $373,000, which is over $100,000 less than the $475,000 Novartis set for Kymriah, a CAR T-cell drug approved in August. However, Yescarta was approved for adults with relapsed or refractory large B-cell lymphoma a more prevalent form of cancer than twice-relapsed acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) in children or young adults, which Kymriah received approval.
CAR T-cell drugs also have serious adverse effects that include cytokine release syndrome (CRS), a serious immune response and neurotoxicity. Health care professionals are working on protocols to recognize the adverse effects early in order to treat them and prevent the development of a more serious condition. CAR T-cell drugs are patient specific treatment that involves a complex manufacturing process that takes 4 to 5 weeks to create a dose from the patient’s white blood cells. Companies are working on improving the process to try and decrease the time needed to create a dose to 3-4 weeks. CAR T-cell drugs still in development include JCAR017 being developed by Juno Therapeutics to treat leukemia and Non-Hodgkin lymphoma bb2121 being developed by bluebird bio for the treatment of refractory multiple myeloma LCAR-B38M being developed by Nanjing Legend Biotech to treat refractory multiple myeloma You can read my review of CAR T-cell drugs in the July-August 2017 issue of Hospital Pharmacy. You can monitor the pharmaceutical pipeline in order to plan for changes with the Prescribe Right Pharmaceutical Pipeline Tracker. Positive data was posted for iclaprim today in the treatment of acute bacterial skin and skin structure infections (ABSSSI). Multi-drig resistant bacteria are common in ABSSSI. Several drugs are being developed for MDR infections. In addition to iclaprim, beta-lactams being developed include cefiderocol, ceftobiprole and sulopenem. Imipenem/cilastatin is also being tested in combination with the carbapenem dehydropeptidase relebactam. New antibiotics also include a systemic dosage of fusidic acid, new tetracyclines eravacycline and omadacycline and the pleuromutilin antibiotic lefamulin. Look for my review of new antibiotics in development for MDR in an upcoming issue of Hospital Pharmacy.
Check out up-to-date information about the these and other drugs in development anytime you want with a subscription to the Prescribe Right Pharmaceutical Pipeline Tracker. The Prescribe Right Pharmaceutical Pipeline Tracker is now providing continuously updated information on efficacy, safety and development status on over 500 drugs. U.S. statistics have shown that despite branded drugs representing only 17% of utilization, these drug are 74% of drug costs. Knowing the status of what is coming can save you money by allowing strategic planning for incremental value based formulary decisions, restricted access or value based negotiations for the new drug. You can search the database for a single drug or for a group of drugs by class, indication, therapeutic area or company. Don’t delay, subscribe to the Prescribe Right Pharmaceutical Pipeline Tracker today.
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