An exceptionally pricey gene therapy cure for sickle cell disease could soon be available, but it’s not clear whether insurance companies will balk at the cost and deny coverage.
On the surface, the gene therapy does not appear as cost-effective as the grinding medical care that sickle cell patients now receive, according to a new analysis.
Gene therapy applied just once to a sickle cell patient costs as much as $2.8 million, compared to an estimated average cost of about $1.2 million for the lifelong waves of hospitalizations, blood transfusions, and in some cases bone marrow transplants that now constitute standard care, the report says.
