Balancing the costs of innovation with the costs of disease

Earlier this year, the U.S. Congressional Budget Office (CBO) studied how the costs of sickle cell disease (SCD) compared to the $2 million price tag of SCD gene therapy. It can be easy to balk at that number until you consider how much the health system pays for SCD-related emergency care. This is a great example of how we need to consider continued investment in expensive innovative treatments given the possible down-the-line preventive health savings.