Novartis meeting, prior to CAR-T approval, leaves cancer patient concerned about pricing

Fierce Pharma ------ David Mitchell was pleasantly surprised when Novartis’ oncology chief, Bill Hinshaw, accepted his request for a meeting to discuss what a fair price might be for tisagenlecleucel (CTL019), its upcoming CAR-T leukemia treatment that's made from the immune cells of individual patients. Mitchell, who is battling multiple myeloma, believes CAR-T is a genuine breakthrough, but he wanted to urge Novartis executives to consider the fact that taxpayers invested hundreds of millions of dollars in CAR-T before Novartis jumped in to commercialize it. But after visiting Novartis Tuesday—just hours before the FDA's surprising early approval of tisagenlecleucel—Mitchell walked away disappointed. To learn more click on the picture below to read the article.