The pricing power of a drug is related to a number of factors: (1) competition, (2) size of patient population, (3) severity of disease.
Payers (insurers) balk at the price of drugs all the time. When there are competitors, they have the ability to say "no, you can't have drug A, but you can have drug B". Also, when a drug treats a disease that isn't that severe (erectile dysfunction), they can also say "no, you can't have that drug".
When it comes to a disease like the one Thiola treats (only a few therapies, serious disease, small patient population), payers don't have much choice but to pay whatever the company charge. They can't deny patients a critical therapy.
I'll bet that insurance companies will complain about the price increase, but in the end just pay it. Sure it's ridiculous, but the overall impact to payers is limited since the disease is so rare. They have bigger fish to fry.
Payers (insurers) balk at the price of drugs all the time. When there are competitors, they have the ability to say "no, you can't have drug A, but you can have drug B". Also, when a drug treats a disease that isn't that severe (erectile dysfunction), they can also say "no, you can't have that drug".
When it comes to a disease like the one Thiola treats (only a few therapies, serious disease, small patient population), payers don't have much choice but to pay whatever the company charge. They can't deny patients a critical therapy.
I'll bet that insurance companies will complain about the price increase, but in the end just pay it. Sure it's ridiculous, but the overall impact to payers is limited since the disease is so rare. They have bigger fish to fry.