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Hep C Discussion Forum -> Hep C News -> US Gov't to Investigate High Price of Sovaldi
Post Info TOPIC: US Gov't to Investigate High Price of Sovaldi
OldenSlow


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RE: US Gov't to Investigate High Price of Sovaldi
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Hi Lee,

Wish I could be more optimistic about a positive outcome from all of this. Gilead pretty much blew congress off when this first came up in March. It remains a handful of minority house members pushing the agenda and I don't see it going anywhere. I read once that Medicare could save as much as $50 billion annually were they allowed to negotiate drug costs, but that evaporated when Medicare Part D was implemented in '06. It created a huge windfall for the drug companies and we have our congress to thank for it. One of the congressmen primarily responsible for getting the bill through the House retired soon thereafter and took a $2 million/year job with some Pharma lobby group.

Here's hoping I'm dead wrong. wink

wayne



__________________

66 y/o male - Geno 1b - F4 cirrhotic dx 2001 - 16 wk treatment w/ Sovaldi/Olysio/Riba - Und @ EOT+24 SVR

 
longld


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The people who run the IRS, Post Office, VA, ACA, Medicare are now involved - I feel so much better that this is going to be resolved SOON!

longld

 

The $84,000 Price Tag On Gilead's Hepatitis C Treatment Sovaldi Has Evoked Sharp Criticism From Several Quarters.

 
1403316621sovaldi.jpg

The drug was released in January and since then several people are raising question over its high price.

The company is now set to face some trouble as two senior Congressional leaders have demanded that the executives of the company should be asked to explain the high price of the product in front of the Congress.

Representatives Henry Waxman (D-CA) and Diana DeGette (D-CO) on Thursday sent a letter to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, claiming that the high price of Sovaldi (sofosbuvir) will be too big a drain on Medicare. 

The duo cited new research from Georgetown University and the Kaiser Family Foundation which revealed that Medicare Part D drug spending will jump as much as $6.5 billion in 2015 due to high price of this drug. The overall Medicare drug spending would then increase 8%.

"These spending increases will be reflected in higher out-of-pocket costs and premiums for seniors and higher taxpayer costs," the representatives wrote.

Waxman and other House members had asked Gilead to attend a briefing in March and the company accepted their demand. 

The legislators, however, were not impressed by the company's justification for Sovaldi's price "compelling," according to Waxman and DeGette's letter. At that time, Gilead told the legislators that it also provides substantial discounts on the drug overseas. 

"Regrettably, these discounts are not available to Medicare Part D plans," Waxman and DeGette wrote.

It is to be noted that Gilead is yet to respond to the request publicly but the company had always defended the high price of Sovaldi.



__________________

62 Yrs Old, CHC Geno 3, Cirrhosis, Kidney Transplant (13 yrs), On Sovaldi/Riba Treatment (24 week) since Feb 01,2014

Viral Load 7M on 1/8/2014,  UND at EOT 7/18/2014
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