Drug To Prevent Premature Labor To Cost More

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - A drug which prevents premature labor in pregnant women is about to get very expensive. It has been on the market for five years, but has just been approved by the FDA and this week the price is about to go into the stratosphere.

The drug, Makena, is a form of progesterone given as a weekly shot. Before now, it was available for high risk patients for $10-to-$20 per injection. But the drug maker, KV Pharmaceutical, is increasing the price to $1,500 a shot.

"The company KV Pharmaceutical, took it through the FDA process, and now it is the only approved drug for the prevention for premature delivery, or the decreased risk of premature delivery," said Dr. Arnold Cohen, Chair of the Department of OB/GYN at Albert Einstein Medical Center. "Since it is the only drug, the company has decided to make a price, since there is no competitor in the field."

Cohen called the move by KV, "outrageous." He says he has been in touch with the March of Dimes, the FDA, the Society for Maternal Medicine and other organizations to spread the word about the astronomical increase.

Reported by Kim Glovas, KYW Newsradio