Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH priced its new treatment for a deadly lung-scarring disease at $96,000 a year, just higher than Roche Holding AG’s (ROG) competing product.
According to a recent survey from the Kaiser Family Foundation, almost every state Medicaid plan is concerned about the rising cost of specialty drugs — specifically Sovaldi. Sovaldi is a hepatitis c drug from Gilead Sciences which costs $1,000 a pill, or $84,000 for a 12-week treatment—prices which the plans have balked at.
Harvoni’s launch brought new howls about price gouging from insurers and a broad coalition of health care groups. They warn that the drugs, no matter how revolutionary, are ultimately unaffordable given the estimated 3 million Americans who may be infected with hepatitis C.
Tennessee Medicaid Director Darin Gordon said today that his state has a $700 million annual pharmacy budget and it has spent $100 million alone on hepatitis C drug Sovaldi in the last four quarters. “No one would argue about bringing on innovative drugs that really have dramatic effects on people’s health,” Gordon said at a Kaiser […]
Now that the FDA has approved the Harvoni treatment from Gilead Sciencesand a $94,500 price for a 12-week regimen has been established, attention is turning toward AbbVie and the steps the big drug maker must take to win market share.
Perhaps no company has done as much as Gilead to propel the issue of high drug prices onto center stage or to lay bare the pharmaceutical industry’s approach to pricing new drugs.
How might state Medicaid programs cope with a new and equally expensive hepatitis C treatment from Gilead Sciences.
The Department of Veterans Affairs, still reeling from a scandal over the negligent treatment of veterans seeking medical care that may have contributed to some deaths, has a new problem on its hands.
he issue of expensive cancer drugs is hardly new, of course, but 60 Minutes aired a segment that the other night that likely helped highlight the controversy for the mass audience that watches the popular news program.
Consumers keep price top of mind when they purchase prescription drugs and they’re unafraid to buy against the big labels, a new Morning Consult poll found.