Price negotiations for bluebird bio’s gene therapy Zynteglo in Germany have failed and the company is withdrawing the high-cost product from the market. Not only is Germany the first country where the one-time gene therapy for treating transfusion-dependent beta-thalassaemia (TDT) was launched, it is also currently the only EU country where the treatment had been given to patients outside of a clinical trial setting.
Zynteglo has not been approved in any other markets worldwide. It is bluebird’s first product and will serve as a sobering lesson for other gene therapy companies that wish to market a gene therapy without the help of big pharma
Zynteglo was first launched in Germany with a freely-set price of €1.575m ($1.88m) in January 2020