LotB, your post made me go deep into Google results on the cost of LymphoSeek. It's interesting that there is a MOUNTAIN of technical detail on LymphoSeek, but I could not find info on the price. Except for a British publication in 2017 that stated one dose of LymphoSeek cost 1,175 pounds. That translates into $1586 in 2017. That strikes me as high.
I do think you have a point that the hospital or imaging clinic will buy tilmanocept and mark it up. The reconstitution procedures to turn the LymphoSeek kit into an injectable radionuclide are mind-boggling. Thus if Jubilant sells tilmanocept for $500, the patient and his insurance company will pay $600? $700? $800?
But for our purposes, NAVB and Jubilant will split $500. Why $500? That is a real number that I have read somewhere but I am not able to reference it. The price is related to the price of Lymphoseek. Jed Latkin mentioned in some presentation that the actual dose required for an RA scan is greater than the dose used in a SLN scan in breast cancer, implying the price of tilmanocept for RA would be higher.
I do think it is strange that with all the info on the Internet, the price of LymphoSeek is simply not there. Why such a secret?