Tercica says its Increlex provides significant price advantage

Tercica has provided a price comparison of its product, Increlex (mecasermin [rDNA origin] injection) to fellow US firm Insmed's IPLEX (mecasermin rinfabate [rDNA origin] injection) for the treatment of children suffering growth failure due to severe primary IGF-1 deficiency (Primary IGFD). Increlex has recently received Orphan Drug status in the USA (see page 22)

"Increlex is priced, on average, at approximately half the cost of the competing IGF-1 replacement therapy. We believe this gives Increlex a strong price advantage with payers, physicians and patients, as they consider their options for the long-term treatment of severe Primary IGFD," said Chris Rivera, senior vice president of commercial operations at Tercica.

For example, the annual cost of therapy for a child of 10kg weight is $12,319 for Increlex compared with $32,850 for IPLEX. At 25kg weight this difference is $30,797 versus $65,700 and at 40kg weight it becomes $49,275 vs $98,550, says Tercica, which said it based its calculations on a multi-use 40mg vial and an average wholesale price per vial of $562,50 for its own product and IPLEX single-use 36mg vial an an average wholesale price of $90.00.