What would you do if you were passing through the Arizona desert and were stung by a scorpion? Most likely, you would be grateful if you were rushed to the hospital and given a newly approved drug called Anascorp to combat severe reactions. But what if insurance coverage was restricted to children and the elderly, and the typical dose of three to five vials cost as much as $62,000?

Maybe you would feel yet another sting. But that could happen next spring in the deserts of the Southwest when the weather warms up again and scorpions go trolling for new victims. Insurance coverage is still being sorted out, according to The Arizona Republic, although the paper notes that Anascorp was approved under the Orphan Drug Act last summer (see here).

The designation means that Rare Disease Therapeutics, which received FDA approval for the drug, was granted seven years of market exclusivity. In other words, the Tennessee company has a lock on the market, although the drug is actually licensed from Instituto Bioclon in Mexico. RDT, which ran clinical trials, sells each for vial for $3,500 to Accredo Health Care, which distributes the drug to hospitals.

RDT expects to sell between 300 and 400 vials a year in desert regions were scorpions frolic. Meanwhile, the paper queried different Arizona hospitals and found they are billing anywhere from $7,900 to $12,467 per vial. The justification, of course, is the intravenous med saves the healthcare system if less money is ultimately spent to treat the severe complications some people can suffer.

Just the same, “the price is ridiculously high,” Alejandro Alagón, a scientist who advises Instituto Bioclon, tells the paper. South of the border, the Mexican biotech makes more than 250,000 vials for Mexican residents, who are charged about $100 per vial at pharmacies or even less at government-funded clinics, the paper writes. “They are not being sensitive.”

This is only the latest instance, by the way, in which a med approved under the Orphan Drug Act was priced high and caused concern. Earlier this year, KV Pharma prompted a controversy, in fact, when it initially charged $1,500 for its Makena drug for premature births, compared with $10 to $20 a week for compounded versions of a med that has been used for decades (back story here and here).

Hat tip to Fiercepharma