Protests help bring down price for preterm birth drug Makena
Plain Dealer – Fifteen hundred dollars.
That’s the cost — wait, let me restate — that was the cost of one dose of Makena, the drug that the Food and Drug Administration approved in early February to help prevent preterm birth.
If it weren’t for the huge price hike announced by Makena’s manufacturer, KV Pharmaceuticals, chances are you would have never heard, or cared, about the drug.
Enough people protested — loudly — to cause the company to give in a bit on the pricing.
More on that later.
Makena reduces the risk of a woman giving birth before her 37th week of pregnancy (an early term pregnancy is 37 weeks to just before 39 weeks; full-term is anything after 39 weeks). It’s the first and only drug to receive FDA approval for that purpose.
