Alexion Set Drug Price Too High, Canadian Authorities Say

Canadian regulators have ordered Alexion Pharmaceuticals to cut the price of its blood-disorder drug Soliris (eculizumab) and to pay the government for what they say were excessive amounts collected on sales of the drug since 2009.

The Patented Medicine Prices Review Board said the price of Soliris in Canada is to be reduced to the lowest at which the drug is sold in any of seven countries: France, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK and the U.S.

The company and the PMPRB staff were directed to submit proposed overcharge-reimbursement amounts to the PMPRB at its meeting Oct. 20.

Soliris is a breakthrough therapy for the treatment of the rare and life-threatening conditions paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria and atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome.