Psoriasis drug Siliq will be cheapest in class, Valeant reveals

Canadian pharmaceutical firm Valeant has announced the list price for its psoriasis treat Siliq (brodalumab) will stand at $3,500 a month, in an effort to undercut its rivals in the space.

With this official figure, Valeant claims that Siliq is now "the lowest injectable biologic psoriasis treatment currently on the market", costing a total of $42,000 per year. This gives the treatment an obvious advantage in the battle against Novartis’ Cosentyx, which was the first-to-market in the space and won big for the company with its successful launch, and Eli Lilly who has also launched its own product in the space in the form of Taltz.

While firm price tags have not been quoted for its competitors, Novartis’ claim that Cosentyx would be priced comparably to J&J’s Stelara would place its cost at around $46,000 – $4,000 higher per year than Valeant’s offering.

The announcement may come as a shock to some, given Valeant’s marred history when it comes to extreme price-hiking of its drugs.

The drug was given approval by the FDA in February to treat moderate to severe plaque psoriasis whom are also candidates for systemic therapy or phototherapy and have failed to respond to other systemic therapies. This decision was reached despite concerns that its use led to a risk of suicidal ideation and self-injury, which means Siliq carries a black-box warning; taking this factor into account, Valeant’s price announcement becomes doubly significant for its latest approved treatment.