Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is estimated to manifest in 6,020 people in the United States in 2014, with nearly half of that number made up of children and 1,440 dying from the disease. Blincyto is Amgen's answer to ALL -- and it will cost $178,000 to use.
Blincyto is prescribed to people with ALL who have either relapsed after treatment or was unsuccessful with treatment like chemotherapy or stem cell transplants. It will include two therapy cycles, each one priced at $89,000. Every cycle is equivalent to four weeks of treatment.
"We believe the price reflects the significant clinical, economic and humanistic value of the product to patients and the healthcare system with a dramatic impact on a serious illness," said Danielle Bertrand, spokesperson for Amgen.
She added that Blincyto's price reflects the complexities of developing, producing and supplying revolutionary biologic medicines as well as the purchasing, reimbursement and local pricing requirements and conditions.
In a clinical trial, whose results led to the Dec. 3 approval of Blincyto, 32 percent of subjects enjoyed complete remission for close to seven months after being administered the drug for four weeks via infusion.
As ALL is a type of cancer where too many B-cell lymphoblasts (a type of white blood cell) are produced by the body, Blincyto works by guiding T-cells (killer cells in the body) toward the offending white blood cells by targeting CD19 proteins, which are expressed on top of B-cell lymphoblasts.
Given this kind of action, Blincyto is a bispecific antibody. The leukemia drug features Y-shaped proteins that bind to target proteins found on cancerous cells. Once one arm is connected to the cancer cell, the other grabs a T-cell, bringing the two together for a more focused attack on cancer cells.
Joining Blincyto in the expensive drugs list are Merck & Co's Keytruda, which costs $150,000 yearly and Bristol-Myers Squibb Co's Yervoy, whose four-infusion treatment course retails for $120,000. Both Keytruda and Yervoy are treatments for skin cancer.
Onyx Pharmaceuticals is an Amgen subsidiary. It is in charge of executing Amgen's patient support program, which makes payment assistance available. For uninsured patients whose adjusted gross income doesn't exceed $100,000 a year, Blincyto may be availed of for free.
Amgen got its hands on Blincyto when it acquired German biotechnology company Micromet in 2012 for $1.2 billion. Back then, the leukemia drug was still being developed and was known by its generic name blinatumomab.
