Johnson & Johnson announced on Thursday that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted approval for its antibody-based therapy, Talvey, to treat a challenging form of blood cancer. Talvey is part of a class of treatments known as bispecific antibodies, which work by bringing together a cancer cell and an immune cell to activate the body’s immune system against the cancer.
The list price for Talvey is set at $45,000 per month, although the actual cost may vary depending on factors such as patient weight, dosing, and treatment duration. Johnson & Johnson estimates that the average treatment duration of six to eight months could result in a pricing range of $270,000 to $360,000.
The company plans to make Talvey available to patients within the next three weeks.
Talvey represents a significant advancement in cancer treatment as it is the first therapy of its kind to target a protein called GPRC5D, which is predominantly found in cancerous plasma cells. This distinguishes Talvey from J&J’s previously approved bispecific antibody, Tecvayli.
The FDA’s accelerated approval of Talvey comes with a “boxed” safety warning, emphasizing the potential risks of aggressive immune responses and neurologic toxicity. However, the therapy has shown promising results in mid-stage trials, with 73.6% of patients experiencing a partial or complete disappearance of cancer cells.
According to the non-profit Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation, there is a continuous need for new treatment options for multiple myeloma patients, as the disease remains incurable despite significant advancements in recent years.
Approximately 35,730 individuals in the U.S. are expected to be diagnosed with multiple myeloma this year. This type of cancer originates in the bone marrow and disrupts the production of normal blood cells.
– Report by Mariam Sunny in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri and Maju Samuel
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