Is there a balm for Gilead?

Is there a balm for Gilead?
By CRAIG A. VAN MATRE

Sunday, January 4, 2015

Doctors and Patients prefer Gilead’s Harvoni because only one pill a day is required. Patients on Viekira Pak must take four pills (or more) — three in the morning and one in the afternoon. Furthermore, patients on Viekira Pak frequently must take ribavirin, which can cause serious side effects. Harvoni causes only “minor” side effects such as nausea, headache and diarrhea. Accordingly, Harvoni was the “drug of choice” in the marketplace until recently. 

Express Scripts negotiated the discount for Viekira Pak but couldn’t get the price of Harvoni down below about $84,000. Gilead thought the superiority of its product deserved no less, apparently. So Express Scripts decided it would only allow patients who get their hepatitis C drugs through an Express Scripts program to receive Viekira Pak. Because Express Scripts has more than 60 percent of the “pharmacy benefit manager” market, this is a big deal and portends many similar deals on the horizon.

Express Scripts helpfully gave patients until Jan. 1, 2015, to adjust to this new regime.

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