Connecticut- Costly Hepatitis C Drugs Sovaldi, Harvoni and Viekira Pak More Accessible To Medicaid Patients

State Moves To Make Costly Hepatitis C Drugs More Accessible To Medicaid Patients
By Daniela Altimari

HARTFORD — Connecticut is poised to make a new class of costly hepatitis C drugs more accessible to the state's poorest patients.

The state Department of Social Services will classify Sovaldi, Harvoni and Viekira Pak as preferred drugs in its Medicaid program, which means they will be "readily available to our clients,'' said department spokesman David Dearborn.

Although Medicaid programs are bound by law to provide FDA-approved medications, many states put up barriers to discourage use of costly drugs, such as requiring health care providers to fill out cumbersome prior authorization forms and limiting the medicine to those with end-stage disease. But in recent months, with the introduction of two new drugs — Harvoni, which, like Sovaldi, is manufactured by Gilead Sciences, and Viekira Pak, made by AbbVie — competitive pressures have given states more negotiating room..

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