Biotech Values

[DewDiligence]

KITE is talking publicly about product pricing—even though it just submitted its first IND and has yet to complete a clinical trial:

http://in.reuters.com/article/2015/01/15/us-healthcare-kite-pharma-idINKBN0KO2EF20150115

Kite will soon begin a broad clinical trial on the immunotherapy cancer treatment in which cells are drawn from a person, sent to the lab to be treated, and then reintroduced into the individual's bloodstream [i.e. CAR-T]. The trial is due to be completed by the second half of 2016.

Kite Chief Financial Officer Cynthia Butitta said that its financial models set a base case price at $150,000 per treatment, but that the actual price will depend more on survival rates and the drug's efficacy. Analysts have estimated the costs at up to $300,000 per treatment.

The company's new marketing head starts next month and will begin conversations with insurers about the trials and the treatment's possible benefits. "We're starting that effort this year," Butitta said.

I can’t recall another instance of a biotech company talking publicly about pricing at this stage of development.