Monday, August 4, 2014

What Will the new Hepatitis C Medicines do to Medicare Part D?

What Will the new Hepatitis C Medicines do to Medicare Part D?

By Ed Silverman

In the latest salvo fired over the cost of hepatitis C treatments, a new report projects that the cost of these drugs – including the Sovaldi medication sold by Gilead Sciences GILD +0.74% – will increase 2015 federal spending by Medicare Part D between $2.9 billion to $5.8 billion.

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In The News
Gilead struggles to shift debate over $1,000 hepatitis pills from costs to cures
When Gilead Sciences Inc. President John Milligan recently told Wall Street analysts that he expected more stories centering on the growing number of patients benefitting from the company’s pricey hepatitis C drug Sovaldi, he wasn’t kidding....

Blue Shield of California CEO: Hepatitis C pill shows drug pricing is ‘broken’
The head of Blue Shield of California on Monday said Gilead Sciences’ controversial hepatitis C drug is unsustainable at $1,000 a day, joining a growing chorus of payers who are unhappy with the price.

“How much can we afford to pay for one drug? How much profit does one company deserve for producing that drug?” wrote President and CEO Paul Markovich in an editorial that appeared exclusively in The Chronicle. “With last month’s release of record earnings for Gilead Sciences — nearly $6 billion in profits in half a year from the hepatitis C drug, Sovaldi, these questions need to be answered.”

Headquartered in San Francisco, Blue Shield of California serves about 3 million members statewide...

Link
Click  here, for an index of articles pointing the reader to the current controversy over the high price of Sovaldi 

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