Canadian pharma company Pharmascience has announced that it will stop manufacturing pms-sodium cromoglycate inhalation solution due to a 95% drop in demand over the past 15 years. Pharmascience now says it will sell pms-sodium cromoglycate for $24.23 per 50-nebule unit until it runs out of inventory.
According to a November 19, 2021 Canadian news report, the company had recently attempted to raise the price of the inhalation solution from $343.79 to $1,622.79, which led to the product being removed from formularies. A change.org petition titled, “Stop The Canadian Government From Delisting A Life Saving Medication, Many Will Die” that asks the government to re-list pms-sodium cromoglycate on formularies has gathered almost 18,000 signatures one week after being posted.
According to Pharmascience, “The price of generic drugs like pms-Sodium Cromoglycate listed on formularies is set by governments based on pricing grids determined by the pan Canadian Pharmaceutical Alliance (pCPA), an advisory body to federal, provincial, and territorial jurisdictions. There is little or no flexibility to allow for price adjustments on these older generic formulary drugs. For very old drugs like pms-Sodium Cromoglycate, whose price hasn’t evolved over time but whose demand has dropped significantly, this inflexibility leads to unsustainable supply.”
The announcement continued, “Pharmascience believes that formulary access to affordable, older, and rarely used drugs is an important policy issue that needs to be addressed. We will continue to work with governments and health care professionals to find alternative solutions that ensure we can support the availability of products that patients and prescribers want.”
Read the Pharmascience press release.
