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 hepatitis C treatment sold by Gilead Sciences Inc. In blunt terms, Express Scripts singles out the cost as posing an ominous threat to payer budgets. Sovaldi carries an $84,000 list price for a 12-week course of treatment, or $1,000 a day.
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