Amgen's new cancer drug treatment to cost US$178,000

San Francisco

AMGEN Inc's leukaemia drug Blincyto will cost US$178,000 for a standard course of treatment, continuing a trend of high prices for immunotherapy, the newest wave of cancer treatments.

The price includes two US$89,000 cycles of therapy, the median duration of treatment for patients who responded in clinical studies, said Danielle Bertrand, a spokeswoman for Amgen, the second-biggest US biotechnology company. Each cycle consists of four weeks of treatment.

Blincyto was approved by US regulators on Dec 3 for patients with an uncommon form of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, a rapidly growing type of cancer in which the bone marrow makes too many B-cell lymphoblast…