b"ASSOCIATE WordNewsw w w. w m i m u t u a l . c o mIf This Doesn't MakeYour Blood Boil, You Are NotPaying Attention!In case you missed it,the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently approved the worlds most expensive drug. Its a gene therapy called Hemgenix, and its administered by IV infusion as a treatment for adults with hemophilia B, a disease that affects about 1 in 40,000 peopleor about 15% of people with hemophilia.Hemgenix is manufactured by biotech company CSL Behring, and it costs a whopping $3.5 million per dose! Let me say that againthis drug, which is a single treatment for a single person who has a life-threatening condition, costs $3,500,000 per dose! For perspective, that is the equivalent of an entire years worth of groceries for 718 people (according to cost estimates from the US Department of Agriculture)! In what world is that sustainable or acceptable?!?For those who are not familiar with hemophilia B, it is a hereditary bleeding disorder that is caused by a lack of blood clotting factor IX. Without enough factor IX, blood cannot clot properly to control bleeding (MedlinePlus.gov). Needless to say, hemophilia is a very serious life-threatening disease. It is usually treated by injecting clotting factor concentrates into a persons vein to replace the missing clotting factor so blood can clot properly (CDC.gov). Without clotting factor, a person can die.Its hard to argue with the pharmacological value of a life-saving drug like Hemgenix, but quite frankly, there are a lot of life-saving treatments andpharmaceutical drugs that are every bit as amazing as this drug but cost afraction of the price. Take for example the common drug insulin, apharmaceutical preparation of human protein hormone that according tothe American Diabetes Association treats high blood glucose in more than8 million Americans. Without insulin, diabetics would suffer a multitudeof problems and ultimately death.After gouginger, I mean charging Americans hundreds or even thousands of dollars a year for these very cheap-to-manufacture insulin drugs, Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk and Sanofi recently announced they were slashing their insulin prices to a $35 out-of-pocket cap. On the surface, that may sound like a glimmer of drug company altruism, but I should note that these drug compa-nies arent limiting the cost they will charge insurance companies, they are merely limiting the patients financial responsibility. As a side note, Ive never quite understood how a drug manufacturer can dictate how much an insured individual must pay out-of-pocket while charging insurance companies with impunity (and I would argue they legally cant do that), but thats a discussion S44www.wpma.com / Post WPMAEXPO 2023"