Treatment price tag for rare form of blindness: $850K

WASHINGTON -- A first-of-its kind genetic treatment for blindness will cost $850,000, less than the $1 million price tag that had been expected, but still among the most expensive medicines in the world.

Spark Therapeutics said Wednesday it decided on the lower price for Luxturna after hearing concerns from health insurers about their ability to cover the injectable treatment.

Consternation over skyrocketing drug prices, especially in the U.S., has led to intense scrutiny from patients, Congress, insurers and hospitals.

"We wanted to balance the value and the affordability concerns with a responsible price that would ensure access to patients," said CEO Jeffrey Marrazzo, in an interview with The Associated Press.

Luxturna is an injection -- one for each eye -- that replaces a defective gene in the retina, The therapy will cost $425,000 per injection.

The treatment is part of an emerging field of medicine that could produce dozens of new gene-targeting medications in the next few years.

These therapies are generally intended to be taken once, a fact which drug developers argue sets them apart from traditional drugs taken for months or years.

But even compared to other one-time gene therapies Luxturna is still an outlier. Two customized gene therapies for blood cancer approved last year are priced at $373,000 and $475,000, respectively.

Given Luxturna's federal approval and strong study results, experts say U.S. insurers will likely cover the drug.

Spark will try to deflect some pricing concerns by offering unconventional payment plans to insurers. Under one arrangement with the not-for-profit insurer Harvard Pilgrim, Spark will repay some of Luxturna's costs if patients don't experience the expected improvements in vision.

Spark said it is also discussing a proposal in which insurers would pay for the drug in installments over several years. That idea would apply to government programs like Medicare and Medicaid, which provide health coverage to the poor and elderly.