Steven Pearson

What is the value of extending someone’s life for a year? How does that compare to a cure, while also compensating drug developers for their painstaking efforts? ICER, the nonprofit founded by physician and bioethicist Pearson, has become perhaps the most prominent independent arbiter on the critical issue of fair drug pricing, with its findings increasingly impacting what payers are willing to shell out for drugs. ICER recently weighed in on lecanemab, the closely watched Alzheimer’s drug from Eisai and Biogen granted accelerated approval by the FDA in January and now sold as Leqembi. In its December draft evidence report, ICER said lecanemab would be fairly priced at between $8,500 and $20,600 per year — under the $26,500 price set by Eisai.