Gilead To Sell Cheaper Generic Version Of Hep C Drug As It Struggles To Compete In Market It Once Dominated
The company says that it's offering the generic treatment so that it can lower costs for patients, but skeptics say Gilead's expensive hepatitis C drugs has put them behind competitors who are offering much cheaper versions. Meanwhile, an Associated Press investigation finds that it's been mostly business as usual for pharma, despite President Donald Trump's vows to cut drugs costs.
Bloomberg:
Gilead To Sell Cheaper Versions Of Drug That Sparked Cost Debate
Gilead Sciences Inc. will sell cheaper versions of its blockbuster hepatitis C drugs, the original versions of which sparked widespread debate about U.S. pharmaceutical costs when they were introduced at a price of more than $1,000 a pill. The new, cheaper versions of Gilead’s Epclusa and Harvoni will cost $24,000 for a course of treatment, the Foster City, California-based company said in a statement on Monday. When Harvoni came on the market in 2014, Gilead set a list price of $94,500. Epclusa was approved for sale in 2016, with a price of $74,760. (Spalding, 9/24)
The Associated Press:
AP Investigation: Drug Prices Going Up Despite Trump Promise
President Donald Trump made reducing drug prices a key promise during his election campaign, repeatedly accusing drugmakers of “getting away with murder.” At the end of May, he promised that drug companies would be announcing “massive” voluntary drug price cuts within two weeks. That hasn’t happened, and an Associated Press analysis of brand-name prescription drug prices shows it’s been business as usual for drugmakers, with far more price hikes than cuts. The number of increases slowed somewhat and were not quite as steep as in past years, the AP found. (Johnson and Forster, 9/24)
In other national health care news —
The New York Times:
Drug Industry Tries To Slip $4 Billion Windfall Into Opioid Bill
Drug companies usually get what they want in public-policy battles on Capitol Hill, but a move by the pharmaceutical industry to grab $4 billion from the federal Treasury in a bill that is supposed to address the nation’s deadly opioid epidemic is meeting fierce resistance. At issue is a small measure that the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, or PhRMA, has deemed a “technical correction” to a bipartisan budget law signed by President Trump in February. The law required drug manufacturers to provide deeper discounts to Medicare beneficiaries whose spending on prescription drugs falls within a range called the coverage gap, or the “doughnut hole.” The discount, now 50 percent on brand-name drugs, is set to rise next year to 70 percent. (Pear, 9/24)
The New York Times:
Trial By Fire: Critics Demand That A Huge Sepsis Study Be Stopped
A large government trial comparing treatments for a life-threatening condition called sepsis is putting participants at risk of organ failure and even death, critics charge, and should be immediately shut down. A detailed analysis of the trial design prepared by senior investigators at the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center in Bethesda, Md., concluded that the study “places seriously ill patients at risk without the possibility of gaining information that can provide benefits either to the subjects or to future patients.” (Rabin, 9/24)
Reuters:
Some 129 Countries Sign Up To Trump's Pledge At U.N. To Fight Drugs
Some 129 countries at the United Nations signed on to a U.S.-drafted pledge to fight the global drug problem on Monday that U.S. President Donald Trump warned presented a public health and national security threat. In order to attend the brief U.N. event with Trump, countries had to sign the one-page "call to action on the world drug problem." Trump held a similar event at the annual gathering of world leaders in New York last year, focused on U.N. reform. (Nichols and Mason, 9/24)
The Associated Press:
Implant, Intense Rehab Help 3 Paralyzed For Years Take Steps
Three people whose legs were paralyzed for years can stand and take steps again thanks to an electrical implant that zaps the injured spinal cord — along with months of intense rehab, researchers reported Monday. The milestone, reported by two teams of scientists working separately, isn't a cure. The patients walk only with assistance — holding onto a rolling walker or with other help to keep their balance. Switch off the spinal stimulator and they no longer can voluntarily move their legs. (9/24)