Investment Commentary
Is U.S. Demand for New Hepatitis C Drugs About to Explode?
Insurers allegedly denying eligible patients access to pricey new Hepatitis C drugs will have their day in court.
Last year the Senate Finance Committee spent a lot of time investigating whether or not Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) intended to maximize revenue from its franchise of groundbreaking hepatitis treatments. Surprising nobody, the investigation concluded maximizing revenue was indeed Gilead's goal, but it also unearthed some startling facts about coverage restrictions.
An underserved population
The low percentage of infected patients treated in 2014 is stunning. An estimated 2.7 million Americans are infected with hepatitis C. Just over a third of the population is covered by Medicaid or Medicare. That year less than 2.4% of roughly 700,000 Medicaid enrollees with Hepatitis C were treated with Sovaldi. In a seperate disclosure from Medicare, just 57,397 beneficiaries were treated with Sovaldi, Harvoni, or the now obsolete Olysio.
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