[Editorial] Treating rare disorders: time to act on unfair prices (Lancet Neurology)

The first disease-modifying treatment for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), nusinersen, was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Dec 23, 2016, and by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) on May 30, 2017. The approval was based on evidence of clinically meaningful improvements in motor milestones in young children with varying degrees of disease severity from two clinical trials (ENDEAR, NCT02193074, and CHERISH, NCT02292537). The regulatory approval is a historic development, but it is unlikely that the drug will be available to all patients who would benefit from treatment, unless its manufacturer offers a fairer price than the current cost of this drug.