By the time that the FDA’s advisory committee gave a near-instantaneous and unanimous thumbs-up for gene therapy to treat a form of hereditary blindness on October 12, tears were freely flowing. Fittingly, it was World Sight Day.

The price of Luxturna has not yet been determined. We are committed to helping ensure patients and their families have access to our gene therapies if they are approved. We’re looking at programs that help off-set out-of-pocket costs and help cover travel costs to treatment centers.

The new drug, Luxturna, is a one-time injection of a working gene into the eye to treat RPE65 mutation–associated retinal dystrophy. When the final stamp of approval arrives in January, Luxturna will be the first gene therapy approved in the US for a single-gene disease.

With FDA approval fast approaching, the question of Luxturna’s price looms. Around October 12 analysts predicted $1 million, a figure that echoed through social media, although Spark had been mum.

Read the full article on the cost of gene therapy by Ricki Lewis at DNA Science Blog