AbbVie Backtracks on Huge Price Hike for Cancer Drug

AbbVie subsidiary Pharmacyclics opted to scrap a plan to triple the price of its blood cancer drug, Imbruvica (ibrutinib).

Pharmacyclics announced early this year that it would discontinue the original 140mg dose and offer four higher dosages of the drug, each priced at $400 — a 300 percent increase.

The move prompted a public outcry, including an editorial by nine physicians in The Cancer Letter calling the plan “highly unusual” and citing potential safety issues for patients who need to adjust the dosage of a drug they take based on side effects or its interactions with their other medications.