UCLA has uncovered a revolutionary prostate cancer drug medication. The drug has been making headlines for its high price tag and government-funding controversy. Find out everything you need to know about Medivation’s Xtandi prostate cancer drug today.
The drug costs $129,000 a year
The drug named Xtandi was introduced a year after Johnson & Johnson’s released Zytiga, which works in a similar way to Xtandi.
The prostate drugs that fight cancer are able to affect testosterone levels – the same kind of testosterone that enables the spread of prostate cancer. These drugs affect testosterone in different ways.
Zytiga is and will likely continue to be the most popular prostate cancer-fighting drug in the U.S., but many believe that Xtandi will soon overtake its competitor.
Xtandi is said to be better drug because it doesn’t have the same reports of negative side effects such as elevated blood pressure. Additionally, patients who take Zytiga need to take another drug called prednisone.
Nonprofit Groups Are Asking the Government to Make the Drug Cheaper
One of the biggest controversies about Xtandi is its ridiculously high price tag. Nonprofit groups are rallying to ask governmental agencies to intercede and make the drug more affordable.
One interesting note is that the drug was created and developed thanks to funding from the Federal government that was given to UCLA in the form of a grant.
As of the date of this writing two other nonprofit groups have asked the federal government to grant other pharmaceutical companies the right to sell Xtand, this would create competition which would clearly result in a lower price.
Discovered Using Taxpayer-Funded Grants
These non profit groups are vociferously arguing that the government has an obligation to intercede and allow for lower-priced competition. Because UCLA’s research team of scientists were only able to create the drug because of the Federal grant that’s funded by taxpayer money.
Government Is Denying The Nonprofits’ Requests For Lower Prices
The plans to develop Xtandi began at UCLA in the early 2000s, when a professor of medicine learned the reason why prostate cancer did not respond to traditional cancer medication.
Then in early 2005, UCLA was able to license the then-experimental drug’s patent. A few years after that, in 2012, the FDA finally approved Xtandi.
The Biggest Deal In UCLA History
As it turns out the University and the scientists behind the drug turned around and sold the drug for a cash payment of $1.14 billion with a stipulation that they would also receive a stake in the future sales of Xtandi.
Medivation is Going Through a Bidding War
Medivation, is the name of the drug’s parent company. As of the moment of this writing, there appears to be a crazy bidding war. The French pharmaceutical mega giant called Sanofi has made an introductory bid of $9.3 billion for the company. This results in a price of $52.50 per share.
And this is where the drama began, in light of the rejection the bitter French giant, Sanofi waged a war. The LA Times reported that Sanofi “embarked on a campaign to try to oust the company’s board of directors”, reports the LA Times. However, it appears that this has not worked, as Medivation has not changed ownership.
Medivation was able to use information it had attained when it signed confidentiality agreements with Pfizer and Celgene. This is what allows a company to study the private information of a desired target. And this is what is done before negotiating a deal.
Sanofi has since offered more, in fact the company has increased its bid to $58 per share but that bid too has been rejected.
Medivation is hoping to attract higher bids based on the potential of its pipeline. The latest Sanofi offer also included an extra clause of $3 per share based on future approval of Medivation’s upcoming breast cancer treatment drug.
The Cancer Business is Booming in America
The bidding war over Xtandi is being used to highlight the booming business of cancer in the United States. As the LA Times explains, “companies charge prices that would be enough to buy a home in some areas of the country”, referring to the $129,000 a year price tag on Xtandi.
Spending on cancer drugs in the United States increased by 18% in 2015, rising to $39 billion.
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