NIH Pressured to Keep CAR-T Therapy Affordable Before Granting License

Advocacy groups are urging the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to keep a lid on the price of a CAR-T therapy if it decides to give an exclusive license to a group of former venture capital firm members.

The Union for Affordable Cancer Treatment, Social Security Works, Public Citizen and other consumer groups sent a letter to NIH last week expressing concern that ElevateBio might be tempted to set a high price for the FLT 3 targeting CAR-T therapy because its managers are current or former members and executives of MPM Capital, a healthcare investment firm.

“Considering the background of ElevateBio’s founders, the NIH can expect the price for the new CAR-T treatment to be aggressive, unless the NIH includes provisions in the license to restrain the prices,” the groups said.