Since many orphan diseases are life-threatening and no alternative treatment is available, it has been possible to achieve a very high price in the market for a single drug. To that extent, the number of existing cases is important, but not decisive. The cumulative number of newly added patients should be taken into account as well. At the same time, one should consider whether the medicine is a treatment or can only alleviate symptoms, or whether other forms of rare diseases can be treated with the same product.
As discussed above for our first product in gastric cancer, a successful new therapeutic approach for a life-threatening disease where no alternative treatment is available, could easily be priced at annual cost per patient above CHF 100,000. However, the strategy of Orphanbiotec is completely different. Our main aim is to help patient with Orphan disease. We want to offer our treatments at reasonable price so that it can be afforded by all patients all over the world. We want to keep development costs and marketing and sales costs low, not to maximize the profit, but to be able to offer new solutions for orphan disease at a moderate price and still be profitable. We want to work very close with patient organizations and experts in the specific fields to provide treatment to as many patients as possible. Given this model, we will also need much lower marketing budgets than traditional pharma companies. However, in spite of our social mission statement towards sustainability and focus on the patients need, we are convinced to be able to run a profitable business model where profits are re-invested into research for new medical formulations against orphan disease. We are looking forward to welcome socially responsible investors to decrease the burden for patients with rare disease.