Why the price of Crizotinib is high and cost analysis

Crizotinib is an important targeted drug for ALK positive and ROS1 positive non-small cell lung cancer, and its price is relatively high both at home and abroad. One of the main reasons for the high price is the huge research and development costs. Crizotinib has taken many years from discovery, preclinical research to multi-center clinical trials and then to the market, and a lot of money and human resources have been invested. Including early compound screening, clinical trial design and drug production process optimization, etc., all increase the total R&D cost, which will eventually be reflected in the market through the selling price of the drug.

Production technology and quality control are also important factors affecting price. Crizotinib is a small molecule targeted drug that has extremely high requirements on raw material purity, production process and formulation stability. Original drugs need to comply with strict GMP standards, and the production and quality testing of each batch consumes a lot of resources. In addition, in order to ensure drug efficacy and safety, packaging, transportation and storage conditions must also meet high standards. These factors together increase the manufacturing cost of drugs.

Patent protection and market exclusivity periods are also key factors in the high price. Crizotinib enjoys patent protection worldwide, giving the original research company market exclusivity for a certain period of time and limited competition. This means that during the patent period, the price will not be affected by the competitive pressure of generic drugs, and companies can set prices based on R&D investment and market demand. Patent protection also ensures that companies can recover research and development costs and provide financial support for subsequent new drug research and development.

In addition, clinical use and marketing also increase the overall cost of the drug. Original drug companies invest heavily in physician training, patient education, clinical data collection and marketing before and after launch to ensure drug safety, rational use and clinical approval. Taken together, the high price of crizotinib is the result of high research and development costs, complex production processes, market exclusivity during the patent protection period, and promotion costs. These factors jointly determine its high price in domestic and foreign markets.

Reference materials:https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25170012/