By Katherine Hobson The same lawmakers looking into the cost of URL Pharma’s gout drug Colcrys are also inquiring about the price tag of another drug: Nuedexta, from Avanir Pharmaceuticals.That drug is for a condition called pseudobulbar affect — severe involuntary, inappropriate emotional outbursts, i.e. uncontrollable weeping or hysterical laughing. The problem is associated with neurological diseases including Lou Gehrig’s disease, MS, Alzheimer’s disease and traumatic brain injury.Avanir estimates 2 million Americans have the condition. (The New York Times notes, however, that not so long ago, it estimated a patient population of less than a million.)In any case, the drug –? approved last fall by the FDA, giving Avanir three years of market exclusivity, according to the lawmakers — is actually a combination of two generic drugs, quinidine and dextromethorphan. Like the active ingredient in Colcrys,nike obuv, those drugs have been around for a long time and in their generic form (at different dosages than in Nuedexta) are cheap.Sen. Herb Kohl and Reps. Henry Waxman, Frank Pallone and Diana DeGette, all Democrats,Louis vuitton tenisky, want Avanir to explain why, if those drug components were so inexpensive (they say, about $20 a month), the price of Nuedexta is $600. Adam Feuerstein at TheStreet.com actually says the price is more like $4,800 to $5,800 a year, depending on discounts, or between $400 and $483 a month.The lawmakers are asking Avanir for the same kind of information they want from URL Pharma, including the total cost of the clinical trials leading to the drug’s approval, how the initial list price was set, marketing budget figures, unit costs, expected sales and profit from the drug, among other things. A spokesman for Avanir confirmed the company had received the letter and said it would work to prepare a response.Avanir’s stock closed down about 7%, at $4.27, though two analysts assessed the risk to the company from the congressional inquiry as minimal.“We think this is driven by recent public health policy concerns on drug pricing rather than the Nuedexta price,” wrote Ritu Baral, an analyst at Canaccord Genuity,nike slovensko, in a research note. “We do not think the Senate inquiry will force a discount that would impact our model.”Baral tells the Health Blog that Avanir has invested about $75 million since 2006 and as much as $200 million overall on Nuedexta R&D. The FDA previously rejected a different dosage combination before approving the current one. “The regulatory path that this drug has had has been convoluted, complicated and painful,” says Baral, and the R&D investment justifies the price of the drug. (Canaccord has an investment banking relationship with Avanir.)Wedbush Securities analyst Gregory Wade, in a research note, predicted the inquiry will have no material impact on sales of Neudexta. Wedbush has also done investment banking business with Avanir.Bonus: FDA Allows Cheaper Version of Preterm Labor Drug to Stay on the MarketUpdate: This post has been updated to attribute the $20/month figure and patent exclusivity term to the lawmakers’ letter. Image: iStockphoto

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