Why Some Drugs Cost $2.1 Million per Dose and how one Company Plans to Change This

With a cost of $2.1 million for a one-dose treatment, Zolgensma is currently the most expensive drug in the United States. Zolgensma treats spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), a genetic disorder that causes muscle wasting and weakness. Although the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Zolgensma in 2019, some health insurance companies still do not cover it because of the high cost, and others have strict requirements that limit the number of patients who qualify for coverage.

To understand why a single dose of a drug costs $2.1 million, you have to start by looking at how it is manufactured and why it was created in the first place. Zolgensma falls into the category of personalized or precision medicine because it is a drug that targets specific problems caused by a person’s unique genetic code. Precision medicine is considered to be much more effective for treating diseases than conventional, one-size-fits-all methods.

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