This US Pharma Company Is Pissed Canada Wants It To Lower Its $700K-a-Year Drug

The US drug company that makes one of the world's most expensive drugs is suing the Canadian federal government for trying to force it to lower the price of the drug.

Connecticut-based Alexion Pharmaceuticals has submitted a motion to Canada's Federal Court alleging the government has no authority over the cost of Soliris, a prescription medication that treats two rare blood diseases that costs around $700,000 ($669,000 USD) for a year-long treatment.

A professor in health law at the University of Ottawa, Amir Attaran, told the CBC that Alexion's case is "the single greatest threat to pricing of drugs in Canada ever," because a ruling in its favor would hinder the country's power over the cost of patented drugs.

The case comes amid recent outcry over the skyrocketing price of Daraprim that has triggered backlash over the gulf between the cost of drugs and the sick patients that need them.

Soliris is not a cure, but is the only drug that can mitigate the effects of the potentially fatal blood diseases — atypical haemolytic uremic syndrome and paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria — that ravage red blood cells and can cause anemia and organ failure.

It's estimated that the diseases impact one in one million people — many of whom will spend millions of dollars on the life-saving drug over the course of their lives. Some Canadian provinces will pay for the medicine for certain patients.

Related: This Is How Drug Companies Jack Up Their Prices and Hurt Patients

In June, Canada's Patented Medicine Prices Review Board launched hearings into the cost of Soliris — first introduced in the Canadian market in 2009 — because it says the price of it is overly excessive and costs more in Canada than anywhere else. Depending on the outcome of the hearings, Alexion could be forced to pay Canada's federal and provincial governments the difference in price.

In its submission to the court, Alexion argues that the price of Soliris in Canada has neither increased nor decreased in the countries where the product is sold outside Canada. "The Board's allegations of excessive pricing between 2012 and 2014 are not based on price increases in Canada…but, rather, on exchange rate fluctuations in the value of Canadian currency."

According to a CBC report earlier this year, medications like Soliris that treat rare medical conditions oftentimes bringing in more revenue than the "traditional" drugs due to patent protection and government incentives.

"[T]he extreme prices of these new … drugs are largely arbitrary, and have very little to do with the development and manufacturing costs," the report said.

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