Hey there. This is an arm and a leg, a show about the cost of health care. I'm Dan Weisman.

And this episode is a big treat.

So last time, we told the story of a woman who needs a drug that costs more than half a million dollars a year

And I promise that this time we tell the story of how that drug got its crazy price tag. I might have mentioned that Las Vegas and

Nacho cheese sauce play supporting roles, but there's something I didn't tell you.

We've produced this story with our friends at 99% invisible. That is a super smart,

super charming show about the unnoticed design that shapes our world. And as

with a show about design, 99% invisible always sounds amazing and the host Roman Mars is one of

the smoothest storytellers alive so this will be their version of the story

me and Roman will take turns telling it but he's our host for the next bit.

I'll come back here at the end with a quick word about what's next on an arm and a leg.

Catch you then.

This is 99% invisible. I'm Roman Mars. Abby Myers grew up in Brooklyn and married a guy she'd known since they were kids.

Their first son David was born in 1968.

By the time David was two, Abby noticed something was different about him.

David's face would twitch.

He sometimes made involuntary noises.

His arms flailed around out of control,

so he could barely feed himself. He was very disturbed by the movements because

other kids would make fun of him. David's teachers often got upset with him in class.

So you can imagine the torture that he went through.

One Sunday morning when David was eight,

...