{"id":20739,"date":"2019-08-08T09:00:27","date_gmt":"2019-08-08T09:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/2019\/08\/08\/why-competition-hasnt-brought-down-the-high-price-of-snakebite-treatment\/"},"modified":"2019-08-08T09:00:27","modified_gmt":"2019-08-08T09:00:27","slug":"why-competition-hasnt-brought-down-the-high-price-of-snakebite-treatment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/why-competition-hasnt-brought-down-the-high-price-of-snakebite-treatment\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Competition Hasn’t Brought Down The High Price Of Snakebite Treatment"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Carmen Heredia Rodriguez<\/a><\/span> <\/p>\n

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Tais Policanti\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

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Dr. Steven Curry, a medical toxicologist and professor at the University of Arizona, has treated snakebites since the 1980s \u2014 long enough to remember when the treatment represented its own form of misery.<\/p>\n

The first medication Curry<\/a> used sometimes caused an immune reaction called serum sickness<\/a> \u2014 patients broke out in a severe, itchy rash. Then, about 20 years ago, the snake antivenin CroFab<\/a> entered the market and dramatically reduced the adverse reactions associated with treatment, he says.<\/p>\n

But the drug came with a sky-high price tag. In one case reported by NPR and Kaiser Health News<\/a>, an Indiana hospital last summer charged nearly $68,000 for four vials of CroFab.<\/p>\n

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Now, CroFab faces competition from a snake antivenin called Anavip<\/a>. Curry says the health system he works for in Phoenix \u2014 Banner Health \u2014 is using the new drug as its first line of treatment. It is switching, he says, because Anavip could reduce readmissions by better controlling bleeding associated with a snakebite and lead to “substantial savings” for the hospital.<\/p>\n

But few experts who study drug laws and drug prices expect this competition to reduce the cost for patients. Legal wrangling, the advantageous use of the patent system and the regulatory hurdles in creating cheaper alternative drugs stymie any serious price competition.<\/p>\n

Indeed, the antivenin can be considered a case study of why drug prices are so high: Head-to-head competition<\/a> between brand-name medicines may not meaningfully reduce prices.<\/p>\n