Industry Pharmaceuticals Area served Worldwide Founded 2008 | Founder Jeffrey S. Aronin Headquarters Northbrook Type of business Private | |
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Key people Jeffrey S. Aronin, Chairman and CEO Products Develops drugs for high-need, small patient populations, and late stage | ||
Marathon pharmaceuticals charging 89 000 for muscular dystrophy drug
Marathon Pharmaceuticals LLC is a privately held biopharmaceuticals company focused on drugs for people with rare diseases. The Northbrook, Illinois-based company develops and manufactures therapeutics and brings them to market. It employs 100 people in four global locations.
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Marathon pharmaceuticals deflazacort ppmd s 2015 connect conference
Business model
Marathon produces medicines for high-need, small patient populations, including patients with rare diseases as outlined by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Orphan Drug Act. The Act defines rare diseases as impacting fewer than 200,000 patients in the U.S.
Marathon develops late-stage drugs, earns regulatory approvals, and then manufactures and commercializes medicines with input from patient advocacy groups. Marathon’s regulatory efforts center on gaining FDA approval of New Drug Applications (NDA) or Biologic License Applications (BLA).
The company provides assistance for eligible patients with financial hardship and helps patients secure other assistance through the National Organization of Rare Disorders (NORD) and similar patient support groups.
Marathon distributes its products in North America.
Treatment pipeline
Marathon develops medications that target neurological, muscular, gastrointestinal and blood disorders, including deflazacort, a new medication to slow the progression of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) in patients. In January 2015, Marathon was granted fast track status from FDA for deflazacort as a potential treatment for DMD. Exondys 51 and deflazacort are, as of 2/12/2017, the only FDA-approved drugs that treat DMD. Most patients usually die by age 25, although recently some people have lived into their 30s and 40s with assistive devices and support.
Leadership
Jeffrey S. Aronin founded an entity named Paragon in 2010, which by 2014 had investments in three entities including Marathon. Aronin is the chairman and CEO of Marathon.
Prior to Marathon, Aronin was Founder, President and CEO of Ovation Pharmaceuticals Inc., a mid-sized pharmaceutical company that specialized in therapeutics for rare diseases, launching 22 drugs in 87 countries. It was sold to Danish pharmaceutical company H. Lundbeck for $900 million USD in 2009.
Deflazacort
Although deflazacort (Emflaza) which is used used to manage Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a rare disease that affects boys, can be purchased in Canada around $1 per tablet, Marathan is charging $89,000-a-year which is "roughly 70 times" more than it would cost overseas. Jeff Aronin announced that Marathon Pharmaceuticals would delay the launch of Deflazacort amid criticism from Senator Bernie Sanders and Rep. Elijah Cummings among others.