Daily News: Disease

Pricey Drug for Hepatitis C Brings Loud Criticism from Activists

Voice of America News


Pricey Hepatitis C Drug Draws Criticism

Anita Powell

July 26, 2014 3:51 PM


To hear scientists talk about it, it's nothing short of a wonder drug.

The drug is sofosbuvir, called Solvadi by its manufacturer, and its effectiveness in treating hepatitis C is so pronounced that the U.S. regulators designated it "breakthrough therapy" when they approved it for U.S. markets last year.


The dispute highlights the continuing conundrum afflicting medical research and spiraling health care costs, not only in the United States and elsewhere. What's an appropriate price to charge for life-changing, or life-saving, drug therapies and who determines it?


Activists-- some of whom traveled to the International AIDS conference in Melbourne, Australia, to protest Gilead's decisions-- say drug companies gouge customers and patients with arbitrary pricing that varies widely from place to place.

"We want Gilead to explain, number one, on what they're basing their price, whether it's $84,000 in Europe and the United States, or even $2,000 in another country," said Karyn Kaplan, who directs international Hepatitis and HIV policy and advocacy for the New York-based organization, the Treatment Action Group. "We want to understand what is their price based on and why won't they give a price that will be affordable to all who need it."



"It is a fantastic drug. It's really changing the landscape of Hepatitis C and the ability to treat hepatitis C, from a largely untreatable disease to one we can cure with a more than 90 percent rate," he told VOA.


Alton said in considering the drug's price, one should take into account that a patient who is cured of hepatitis C is free not only from the disease, but also the financial burden of future treatments.

"So actually on a cost basis, if you just look at pure cost, it is actually less expensive than treating HIV, because HIV being chronic, if you actually put the cost of actually treating for life, it turns out to be more," Alton said. "And, again, the other thing is that we actually hope the cost comes down, that's the purpose of the generic licensing."



For now, Gilead is raking in profits. Earlier this week, the company announced second-quarter sales of Sovaldi at a whopping $3.5 billion. That puts this little yellow pill on track to be one of the pharmaceutical industry's biggest all-time hits, with sales expected to reach those of cholesterol-lowering drug Lipitor.

"We are not at all against Gilead making money. They are a corporation, they are a for-profit entity. So we all recognize and agree that originator companies make investments, and that they should be appropriately rewarded," Kaplan said. "However, what that appropriate reward is and the lack of transparency in how pharmaceutical originators, pharmaceutical companies come up with that price, is not in touch with reality."
