April 18, 2014 Illinois prison inmates will now be able to get a new and effective — but incredibly costly — drug for hepatitis C. The Herald-Review reported on Friday that the state Department of Corrections has approved the use of Sovaldi for hepatitis C. The medication has a cure rate of 95 percent. […]
By Jay Hancock April 18, 2014 UnitedHealth Group spent $100 million on hepatitis C drugs in the first three months of the year, much more than expected, the company said Thursday. The news helped drive down the biggest insurance company’s stock and underscores the challenge for all health care payers in covering Sovaldi, an […]
By Caroline Humer April 17, 2014 UnitedHealth Group Inc, the largest U.S. health insurer, said it spent more than $100 million to cover a pricey new hepatitis C drug from Gilead Sciences Inc in its first three months on the market, an amount that was “multiple” times what it had expected. UnitedHealth is the […]
By Stephanie M. Lee Apr. 12, 2014 The nation may have finally met a drug it cannot afford. Sovaldi is a long-awaited breakthrough for the 3 million Americans suffering from the hepatitis C virus. And at $1,000 a daily pill, or $84,000 over 12 weeks of treatment, the medication could generate as much as […]
By German Lopez Apr. 11, 2014 Once again, US drug prices are coming under the scrutiny of industry and consumer groups. The April 9 release of a trove of Medicare data showed some doctors charging millions to the public health-care program. Doctors claimed these charges largely covered the cost of expensive drugs administered to patients — costs Medicare […]
By Ed Silverman April 8, 2014 Each year, Express Scripts, the largest pharmacy benefits manager in the U.S., ceremoniously releases a spending forecast for prescription drugs. Typically, the reports are confined to numbers, charts and crystal ball gazing. This year’s edition, however, is notable for vehement criticism of the price of the new Sovaldi […]
By Michelle Fay Cortez April 8, 2014 Express Scripts Holding Co., a pharmacy benefit manager that handles more than 1 billion prescriptions annually in the U.S., is ratcheting up its effort to force Gilead Sciences Inc. (GILD) to cut the $84,000 price of its new hepatitis C pill Sovaldi. Express Scripts plans to ask […]
By Drew Armstrong Mar. 21, 2014 Gilead Sciences Inc. (GILD) is being asked by U.S. House Democrats to explain how the company set its $84,000 price for hepatitis C treatment Sovaldi. The lawmakers also asked Gilead Chief Executive Officer John Martin to explain what is being done to make sure the medicine gets into the […]
Editorial Board March 16 A new pill to treat hepatitis C raises difficult questions about fair pricing, not only in the United States and other affluent nations but in developing countries around the world. Hepatitis C, which afflicts some 150 million people globally, often without symptoms for years, can cause fatigue and fever, cirrhosis or liver […]
By Matthew Perrone March 11, 2014 An innovative hepatitis C drug that was only recently hailed as a breakthrough treatment is facing skepticism from some health care providers, as they consider whether it is worth the $1,000-a-pill price set by manufacturer Gilead Sciences Inc. A panel of California medical experts voted Monday that Gilead’s […]