Bristol Sprycel pricing

Executive Summary

Bristol-Myers Squibb is positioning its chronic myeloid leukemia therapy Sprycel (dasatinib) as a less expensive option than high-dose Gleevec (imatinib) for second-line use in Gleevec failures. Sprycel became available within days of its June 28 accelerated approval at a price of $3,900 for a month of treatment at the recommended dosage of 140 mg/day, according to Bristol (1"The Pink Sheet" July 3, 2006, p. 5). In clinical trials, median duration of dasatinib therapy ranged from 2.8 months for lymphoid blast to 5.6 months for CML; the CML trial is ongoing. The company is detailing its multiple tyrosine kinase inhibitor to oncologists and hematologists; the oncology sales force, which has fewer than 200 reps, also details Erbitux (cetuximab)...