Russia plans to develop SMA medication similar to world's most expensive drug Zolgensma

MOSCOW. May 25 (Interfax) - Russia's Federal Medical Biological Agency (FMBA) plans to lay the groundwork in 2022 for a project to a develop a medication similar to Zolgensma, the world's most expensive drug used to treat spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), FMBA head Veronika Skvortsova said on Wednesday.

"We will try to complete all necessary groundwork as soon as this year, and it will be far cheaper than the original medication, which actually costs completely different money, but this price of 180 million-150 million, which is only thanks to the monopoly on the world market, is a dozen times higher than its real price," Skvortsova told reporters.

"We can produce it. To this end, a special personified medicine system was created at the brain and neuro-technology center as part of the Year of Science and Technologies," she said.

FMBA is ready to broaden the development of a Zolgensma-like medication to the production of "trial batches", Skvortsova said.

"Possibly, it will be enough given the rarity of the illness. We will then simply switch to the ready formula," she said.

"This production itself is cheaper than the cost of this medication, which holds a monopoly today, which is why it can set any price, which is totally inconsistent with its net cost, as there is no other choice, and it will be purchased even for this price," she said.

Skvortsova earlier announced an objective to develop a medication similar to the SMA drug Zolgensma, which is the most expensive drug in the world.

"No problem, we will do it. If we develop this medication, it will be affordable to our patients. In Russia it will be drastically cheaper," she said.