Blogs

Blogs

The World’s First CRISPR Gene Therapy Approved in UK!

Vertex and CRISPR Therapeutics’ Casgevy became the first CRISPR gene therapy to be approved in the world after the UK’s MHRA granted conditional approval. Casgevy is indicated for the treatment of sickle cell disease and transfusion-dependent beta thalassemia, with the hope of being a potentially curative therapy for patients

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Blogs

IQWiG recommends downgrading Gilead’s Yescarta to ‘no added benefit’ – a sign of things to come for orphan drugs in Germany? 

Yescarta, Gilead’s CAR-T cell therapy recently underwent a full HTA assessment in Germany after breaching the annual sales threshold for orphan drugs. Upon reassessment, Germany’s lower HTA body IQWiG recommended downgrading Yescarta’s rating in one indication to ‘no added benefit’, which is likely to negatively impact pricing negotiations.

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Blogs

Swissmedic and FOPH are joining forces next year to provide a simultaneous regulatory and reimbursement review process. 

From 2024, the Swiss regulatory body (Swissmedic) and health technology assessment (HTA) organization (Federal office of public health; FOPH) are introducing a simultaneous reimbursement and regulatory review process, to promote earlier access of medicines. This approach will enable manufacturers to submit both applications at the same time, making it possible to achieve marketing authorization and reimbursement in situ (1). This has been evidenced under a successful pilot with Roche’s Lunsumio (completed in March 2023).

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Blogs

Calls for reform in the assessment of orphan drugs in Germany, upon the implementation of EU Joint Evaluation.

OD (orphan drug) privilege status under the AMNOG procedure means that ODs are currently exempt from providing comparative data for their assessment. They are assumed to have a positive added benefit (with the lowest rating possible being a positive but unquantifiable added benefit), even when the data is insufficient to support this. If sales over 12 months surpass the €30 million mark, this privilege is revoked, and a full assessment is performed based on comparative data. 

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