Just prior to the long Memorial Day weekend, the FDA gave the nod to Novartis gene therapy Zolgensma for one of the leading genetic causes of infant death — spinal muscular atrophy (SMA). The approval also grabbed headlines when Novartis announced the price: $2.1 million. Who better to talk about this than Michelle Rivera, an analyst with inThought Research who did her PhD in SMA. Rivera speaks with Marc Iskowitz about the pathophysiology of the disease, the SMA drug pipeline and how payers may react to what is the most expensive single-dose drug ever.
