In 2013, according to the lawsuit, Regeneron paid the fund $35 million, which closely matched what the fund told the company would be needed to cover co-payments for Eylea patients. It competes with Lucentis, as well as Avastin, a similar drug also sold by Genentech. Although the three drugs have been found to have comparable efficacy, Avastin is much cheaper at $55 a dose, compared with $2,000 a dose for Lucentis and $1,850 for Eylea, according to the federal lawsuit. But Avastin actually became more expensive to patients, because the charitable fund provided help only to those who were prescribed Lucentis or Eylea. Doctors, knowing this, commonly prescribed Eylea or Lucentis, “so as not to impose large Medicare co-pays on their patients or risk being unable to collect those co-pays,” the lawsuit said.

Source: New York Times June 24, 2020 19:41 UTC