ICER: AstraZeneca hypertension drug is too expensive

https://icer.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/ICER_Hypertension_Draft-Report_For-Publication_081226.pdf?utm_campaign=the_readout&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9uBnMRLalPLEhRK8bGLnNh6vHmUJPv1ozrbjVIHDxZY509xx0hGug-_oVpDXqOQh2H05n6PmGwxz2gezp79gbhfrjOcg&_hsmi=433538757&utm_content=433538757&utm_source=hs_email ICER: AstraZeneca hypertension drug is too expensive AstraZeneca’s newly approved hypertension drug Baxfendy is too expensive to meet traditional cost-effectiveness thresholds, according to a draft report from drug pricing watchdog ICER. The group assessed Baxfendy at its $10,800 annual list price. The group reached the same conclusion for Mineralys Therapeutics’ experimental rival lorundrostat. ICER said the benefits of the two aldosterone synthase inhibitors are “promising but inconclusive” compared with cheap generic hypertension drugs. AstraZeneca countered that Baxfendy, the first new class of hypertension drugs in more than two decades, produced clinically meaningful blood pressure reductions in a Phase 3 trial and could help millions of patients whose hypertension remains uncontrolled on multiple medications. AstraZeneca estimates that Baxfendy’s peak sales potential could be $5 billion after it acquired its original developer, CinCor Pharma, for $1.3 billion in 2023.