Get ready for a world of million-dollar drugs. Pricey gene therapies that could cure devastating genetic disorders in one fell swoop are gaining momentum, brightening the horizon for biotech stocks like Sarepta Therapeutics and BioMarin Pharmaceutical.
The windfall could be huge, with treatments going for as much as $3.5 million a pop. One research firm says the market could be worth $82.2 billion by 2032. And with the snowballing number of gene therapies hitting the market, this slice of the biotech industry could be near an inflection point.
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But BioMarin Chief Commercial Officer Jeff Ajer says the inflection point in gene therapy has yet to arrive. Today’s gene therapies, by and large, treat small patient populations. Most are struggling to gain commercial traction.
“I think once we get to the point where we’re approving those kind of numbers — like 40 a year — that are addressing larger, more meaningful population sizes, and once we get to the point they’re being used more regularly in clinical practice, I think that’s when we’ll know we’ve hit that inflection point,” he told IBD. “I think that’s coming. It’s around the corner.”
