Beximco Pharmaceuticals (LSE:BXP), the Bangladeshi drugmaker, handed over the first doses of its generic cystic fibrosis treatment Triko at a ceremony in Dhaka on 22 June, marking the first time patients have received an affordable version of the combination therapy known commercially as Trikafta.
Priced at $12,750 per year for adults and $6,375 for children, Triko costs 96% less than the US list price of Vertex Pharmaceuticals' patented product, meaning 58 children can be treated for the cost of one on the branded version.
Patients from Slovakia, South Africa, Qatar, the United States, the United Kingdom and Bangladesh attended the handover, collecting initial supplies managed on a named-patient basis through the CF Buyers' Club.
Beximco's legal basis for manufacturing the generic rests on Bangladesh's status as a United Nations-designated Least Developed Country, which under WTO TRIPS rules exempts it from enforcing pharmaceutical patents.
A dose-reduction protocol developed by South African clinicians can reduce the annual cost for a child to below $2,000.
Beximco has also launched Bexdeco, a standalone generic of ivacaftor, one of the three active components of Trikafta, at $5 per tablet.
"Access to this life-saving treatment will have a truly transformative impact on thousands of patients living with CF who are currently deprived of treatment due to the significant cost burden," said Rabbur Reza, Beximco Pharma's chief operating officer.
