CAR-T is becoming a money pit

The early returns on CAR-T cancer therapies have led biotech investors to rethink just how lucrative the treatments will be for drug companies. But for the hospitals actually doling out infusions, CAR-T may already be a cash-burning business.

As STAT’s Ike Swetlitz reports, hospitals around the country are shelling out for CAR-T without knowing whether payers will reimburse them. Medicare is still deciding how to cover the therapy, and private insurers have been handling claims on a one-off basis. At Virginia Commonwealth University’s Massey Cancer Center, for example, doctors have been administering CAR-T for about seven months and still haven't received a dollar from insurance companies.

For now, CAR-T is employed only as a last resort, so subsidizing its use isn’t breaking the bank. But if the drug industry succeeds in proving its benefit for more and more cancer types, hospitals could be forced into an impossible position.

Read more.