World's Most Expensive Medicine: Is it Worth the Price?
Purifying gene therapy drug Glybera at UniQure in Amsterdam.
Photographer: CorbisThis article is for subscribers only.
Is it worth $1 million to treat a potentially fatal genetic disease that causes painful swelling of the pancreas and can require repeated trips to the emergency room? Germany says it’s not sure.
Health authorities there ruled Thursday that the benefit of Glybera, the first gene therapy approved for use in Europe, is “not quantifiable” and more data on safety and efficacy are needed to start a new assessment in June 2016.