news/BIIB/2023.01.06/Eisai says new Alzheimer's drug to cost $26,500 annually.txt

Jan 6 (Reuters) - Japanese drugmaker Eisai Co Ltd
said on Friday it had priced its newly approved
Alzheimer's disease drug called Leqembi at $26,500 a year.Eisai developed the drug with Biogen Inc.Wall Street analysts were expecting the drug to be priced at
roughly $20,000 per year, while William Blair analyst Myles
Minter late last year forecast a price closer to $28,000 given
its most recent data.The Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER), a
drug pricing research group, said the treatment would be cost
effective if priced in the range of $8,500 to $20,600 a year.The U.S. Food and Drug Administration allowed use of the
drug, known chemically as lecanemab, via its accelerated
approval pathway in people with the early stages of the
brain-wasting disease.
(Reporting by Bhanvi Satija in Bengaluru; Editing by Bill
Berkrot)