Hep C Discussion Forum

"While Gilead has contended that the total price for a course of treatment with a Sovaldi-containing regimen was a modest increase compared with previous standards of care, this is an invalid argument based on the incorrect premise that these regimens were appropriately priced to begin with. So, although an eight-week course of Harvoni will result in a lower cost-per-cure than previous regimens, the $1,125 WAC per pill means that coverage for the 50 percent or more of people living with genotype 1 hepatitis C who require 12 or 24 weeks of therapy will be unreasonably costly and therefore potentially unattainable.

"Harvoni is a remarkable breakthrough in hepatitis C treatment," explained FPC Co-Chair Lynda Dee. "It is easy to take, is associated with cure rates between 94 and 99 percent, is safe and effective in advanced liver disease, is much less toxic than older regimens, and has a manageable drug interaction profile. Yet its price sours our appreciation of these long-awaited agents, particularly now that we have examples that curative treatment is inaccessible to many because of out-of-control escalator drug pricing."

Gilead's pricing of Sovaldi, and now Harvoni, puts these medications on a par with the pricing of pharmaceuticals that are much more costly to manufacture and often for rare diseases, despite the fact that Sovaldi and Harvoni are relatively inexpensive to produce, and that at least 3.5 million people are estimated to be living with hepatitis C in the United States. These costs are putting unprecedented pressure on public and private insurers, and stripping patients and providers of the required autonomy to make treatment decisions based on need.

The FPC recognizes that Gilead Sciences is maintaining their free medications program for low-income, uninsured patients, and expanding subsidies that greatly minimize out-of-pocket expenditures, such as co-payments and co-insurance costs, associated with the placement of Harvoni and Sovaldi in specialty drug tiers. Yet these programs are unable to address all disparities of access to treatment due to excessive pricing, resulting in a two-tiered system of care based on insurance coverage and ability to pay."

Full Article:

http://hepatitiscnewdrugs.blogspot.com/2014/10/fair-pricing-coalition-welcomes.html

PDF:

http://fairpricingcoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Harvoni_FPC_101314_FINAL.pdf