 iStock By Carolyn Y. Johnson An old steroid treatment, long available outside the United States, received approval this week for a rare disease that afflicts about 15,000 Americans. Though not previously approved in the United States, the drug, deflazacort, has for years been available to patients suffering from the devastating and fatal disease Duchenne muscular dystrophy; families can import it from abroad for about $1,200 per year on average. The new list price for the drug? $89,000 a year. After rebates and discounts, the net price will be $54,000 a year, said Marathon Pharmaceuticals Chief Financial Officer Babar Ghias in an interview. The company sought approval for deflazacort as an "orphan drug," a special approval pathway intended to encourage the development of drugs for very rare diseases. With orphan designation, the company gets seven years of exclusive rights to sell the drug in the U.S., even though it has long been available as a generic in other countries. The company also scored a valuable "priority review" voucher, essentially a ticket that it can use to get a future drug reviewed by regulators faster — or that it can sell to another company for hundreds of millions of dollars. In theory, these vouchers exist for a good reason. Read the rest on Wonkblog.
Chart of the day Last week, President Trump committed to supporting the Export-Import Bank, according to two Democratic senators. The bulk of the bank's balance sheet finances major companies such as Boeing. Max Ehrenfreund has more. | 
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