70-Fold Price Increase Puts Drug at $89,000

Marathon Pharmaceuticals LLC says it will charge $89,000 annually in the U.S. for a decades-old steroidal drug that was approved for U.S. sale for the first time on Thursday, a price that is as much as 70 times higher than drug’s price overseas.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the drug, called deflazacort, on Thursday to treat a rare type of muscular dystrophy that affects some 12,000 boys in the U.S., most of whom die in their 20s and 30s. The drug isn’t a cure, but it has been shown to improve muscle…