The seller of the brain-cancer drug Gleostine has pulled out of a federal discount program for Medicare patients, leaving some struggling to pay for a therapy that can cost as much as $1,000 per capsule.

NextSource Biotechnology LLC’s decision to leave the program, rendering its drug ineligible for the Medicare Part D drug benefit, comes after the Miami company raised the drug’s price exponentially since acquiring rights in 2013.

Gleostine, which treats a tumor known as glioblastoma and other brain cancers, is off-patent but has no generic alternative.

“The problem is that patients with this terrible tumor now no longer have easy access to one of the few approved chemotherapies,” said.

The company also said it is exploring a new contract with the Medicare Part D program and intends to participate again in the future.

1, Medicare patients meeting certain income criteria are eligible to receive Gleostine at no cost under its patient-assistance program.

The National Brain Tumor Society has explored asking federal officials to switch Gleostine to another part of Medicare and is seeking drug companies willing to invest the time and money to make lower-cost copies, said.

NextSource didn’t respond to the letter, said a spokesman for the society.

The list prices for dose levels of Gleostine range from $90 per capsule for the lowest dose level, 10 milligrams, to $1,004 per capsule for the highest dose, 100 milligrams, according to an analysis provided to the Journal by Elsevier, which tracks drug prices.

For many patients, this ranges between $1,500 and $2,300 every six weeks, according to doctors and the National Brain Tumor Society.

CordenPharma joined with NextSource to sell and distribute lomustine in the U.S., and NextSource rebranded the drug as Gleostine.

An investigation by the Journal in 2017 showed how NextSource repeatedly hiked Gleostine prices, sparking outrage from doctors and patients and a probe by several U.S.

NextSource hasn’t raised prices since 2018, the company said.

In 2019, Medicare issued two fines to NextSource, totaling $117,206, for the company’s alleged failure to pay its share of drug costs under Part D within the required time frame in late 2018 and early 2019, according to letters the agency posted online.

NextSource paid the penalties, a spokesman for the Medicare agency said.

About half of new glioblastoma cases are diagnosed in people 65 and older, according to the National Brain Tumor Society.

The last name of National Brain Tumor Society Chief Executive David Arons was misspelled as Aarons in an earlier version of this article