by PRATAP CHATTERJEE
Gilead Sciences of San Francisco is under investigation by the U.S. Senate Finance Committee for charging $84,000 for a 12 week course of a new drug to treat hepatitis C. Gilead sells the exact same course for $900 in poor countries like Egypt and India.
Sovaldi – the brand name for sofosbuvir – was approved last December by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, to treat hepatitis C, a viral infection that can cause fever, fatigue, cirrhosis and deadly liver cancer. Some 150 million people around the world are estimated to be at risk, often many years after receiving contaminated blood tranfusions. (Body Shop founder Anita Roddick died from such a transfusion). Solvaldi has been described as a breakthrough drug because of its ability to cure victims in just three months, with few side effects.
A new study by Express Scripts, a pharmacy benefits firm, estimates that U.S. government healthcare programs alone will have to spend $55 billion to buy Sovaldi. “Should the states be compelled to pay for everyone?” Dr. Steve Miller, medical director for the firm, asked NBC News. “You’re going to have to figure out if you’re going to have to go back to your voters and ask for more funding.”
“Although Sovaldi has the potential to help people with HCV, at $1,000 per pill, its pricing has raised serious concerns about the extent to which the market for this drug is operating efficiently and rationally,” the senators wrote. “Given the impact Sovaldi’s cost will have on Medicare, Medicaid and other federal spending, we need a better understanding of how your company arrived at the price for this drug.”
Activists have been sharply critical. Jennifer Cohn of Doctors Without Borders described Gilead’s prices as “corporate greed.”
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