Patent Medicine Prices Review Board over-ruled by Federal Court of Appeal – Soliris

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Soliris is used to treat two rare blood disorders affecting 180 Canadians – with a list price in Canada of $500,000 – $700,000 for a year of treatment.  “It was known as the world’s most expensive prescription drug and quickly became a poster child for what some critics considered a greedy pharmaceutical industry.”

Canada’s drug-cost regulator took rare action in response, ruling that Soliris, a medicine for rare blood disorders that cost as much as $700,000 per year, was excessively priced. It ordered manufacturer Alexion Pharmaceuticals to pay back surplus revenue over eight years.

The PMPRB (Patent Medicine Prices Review Board) got its hand slapped by the Federal Court of Appeal who overturned the board’s earlier ruling, stating that “the board lacks the power to generally regulate prices or carry out consumer protection at large.”  The court stressed that the board cannot decide if a drug price is unreasonable, only if it is excessive or abuses its patent monopoly.

The board’s ruling against the company would only impact private workplace drug plans; as Canadian provinces (and other countries) strike deals with pharmaceutical companies, negotiating secret cost reductions negating the validity of the public list price.

Alexion challenged the 2015 decision of the board finding that the drug price was excessive, the Federal Courts trial division upheld the board’s decision – however, the Federal Court of Appeal did not.  This was the first time in 3 years that the board had brought forward this action challenging the pricing of a drug.

This ruling will not only have an impact on the drug in question but on any other matter that the board brings before the courts.

Read the full National Post article.

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