Gilead Sciences Inc. has been asked by two U.S. senators to explain how it priced its $84,000 hepatitis C treatment Sovaldi, adding pressure on the drugmaker to explain the cost of the breakthrough treatment. Republican Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Democratic Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon asked Gilead Chief Executive Officer John Martin to give details on the drug $1,000-a-pill […]
Two high-ranking senators have lent their voices to the chorus demanding to know why Gilead’s new hepatitis C drug Sovaldi costs $1,000 a pill. Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), the Judiciary Committee’s ranking member, are asking the specialty drugmaker how they justify the high price of […]
By: Brett Norman A bipartisan pair of senators is asking the pharmaceutical company that makes a hepatitis C “miracle drug” to justify its $84,000 per treatment price tag. “It is unclear how Gilead set the price for Sovaldi,” Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden and GOP Sen. Chuck Grassley write in a letter today to Gilead. […]
The debate over the price of specialty drugs is intensifying and could well be the next major healthcare issue to dominate the national, even international, agenda. In a nutshell, how will society pay for breakthrough scientific innovation? Specialty drugs, complex therapies used to treat severe illnesses such as cancer, multiple sclerosis and Hepatitis C, are […]
Sovaldi, the new drug to treat and cure Hepatitis C has certainly caused quite an uproar in the US since its FDA approval in December of 2013. At $1,000 per pill, the manufacturer, Gilead, has plenty of people and payers to answer to in order to justify this enormous cost, say industry experts and watchdogs. With roughly […]
A cure for hepatitis C is within reach for 170 million people around the world — thanks to the charitable efforts of poor and sick Americans who are picking up the tab by paying outrageous prices for their own treatment. It’s like Robin Hood in reverse. This is what happens when a pill is priced […]
Eyeing a $168-million annual price tag for two costly new hepatitis C drugs, state officials hope to limit access to a small fraction of the 20,000 Oregon Health Plan members afflicted by the liver disease. The new drugs, Sovaldi and Olyssio, offer a cure that lacks the side effects of current treatment. But at $1,000 […]
“More than 80 organizations are launching the Campaign for Sustainable Rx Pricing to bring the pharmaceutical company Gilead to the table to negotiate a lower price, hoping that public pressure will prevail where private entreaties have not. John Rother, CEO of the National Coalition on Health Care, said Gilead’s pricing amounts to ‘an abuse of […]