Amid sporadic shortages of a drug that is essential in preparing patients for lifesaving, cancer-fighting treatments, one manufacturer has returned to the market — but is selling its medicine for 10 to 20 times the prices offered by the only other companies with available supplies.
Over the past week, Areva Pharmaceuticals began marketing vials of fludarabine at a wholesale price of $2,736, a much steeper cost than the $272 charged for the same dosage by Fresenius Kabi and the $109 price tag from Teva Pharmaceuticals, according to data from IBM Micromedex, which gathers pricing data that is reported by manufacturers.
The move comes as hospitals around the U.S. grapple with persistent shortages of fludarabine, an older chemotherapy that is used during the run-up to bone marrow transplants in patients with a form of leukemia. More recently, the drug has also become a crucial tool in readying patients to undergo CAR-T cell therapy, a customized approach to fighting some cancers that involves re-engineering patient cells.
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