that's also a similar price to other MS drugs (eg beta-interferon). my understanding is that none of these (existing and new MS drugs) is a 100% applicable fix

that's also a similar price to other MS drugs (eg beta-interferon). my understanding is that none of these (existing and new MS drugs) is a 100% applicable fix. they all are effective on only a subset of patients, and they all have different side-effects (which is still good news as it improves the chance that any one patient will find something that works (the subset of affected patients changes with the drug) and is not harmful). also, fwiw, the govt here in chile pays 80% of the cost. i don't know if that means it can also negotiate a lower price, but i would suspect so. and does this also suggest help for other auto-immune diseases (lupus etc)? [update:] also, talking more about the economics - the market is probably very inflexible. existing patients with a drug that "works" (and these only work in some statistical sense - they reduce the chance of outbreaks) is not going to want to switch, because (1) there's a large chance that you'll start having outbreaks again and (2) often they take months to become effective. so the main pressure in lowering prices has to come from either large purchasers (national health systems, insurers) or from new patients. for new patients i guess that oral delivery (i think?) is a big win over injections. that is something people will pay for.