Merck To Steeply Cut Price of Hepatitis C Drug Zepatier

Merck To Steeply Cut Price of Hepatitis C Drug Zepatier
July 20, 2018
The company announced that it plans to reduce other drugs in its portfolio as well. Merck will drop the price of its Hepatitis C drug Zepatier by 60%, the company announced yesterday. In addition, it plans to cut the price of “several other” drugs by 10%. In doing so, Merck went further than two competitors—Pfizer and Novartis—who said that they would not increase drug prices for the rest of 2018.
Read more: https://www.managedcaremag.com/dailynews/20180720/merck-steeply-cut-price-hepatitis-c-drug-zepatier

Merck Is Lowering Drug Prices. There’s a Catch

July 19, 2018

By Katie Thomas

The drugmaker Merck said Thursday that it would lower prices on several drugs by 10 percent or more, but its rollback affects minor products and would not lower the cost of its top-selling, expensive cancer and diabetes products.

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/19/health/merck-trump-drug-prices.html

Of Interest
Roche Hiked Cancer-Drug Prices Before Pledge to Keep Them Flat
Bloomberg

By Naomi Kresge 

‎July‎ ‎20‎, ‎2018
For example, Fazeli said, Merck's hepatitis C treatment Zepatier was already facing competition from a cheaper, shorter-course treatment from AbbVie Inc. Merck said on Thursday it would cut Zepatier’s price by 60 percent as part of a commitment to responsible pricing. But the company probably would already have had to apply a hefty discount to the list price, Fazeli said.

Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-07-20/roche-hiked-cancer-drug-prices-before-pledge-to-keep-them-flat

Yesterday on NPR

Louisiana's New Approach To Treating Hepatitis C
Louisiana is working with Gilead Sciences and other companies on a deal that would change how the state pays for expensive hepatitis C drugs, with the goal of eliminating the disease in that state.

Listen or read transcript: https://www.npr.org/2018/07/19/630378124/louisianas-new-approach-to-treating-hepatitis-c

In The Journals 
July 18, 2018
Disparities in Access to Direct Acting Antiviral Regimens for Hepatitis C Virus (HCV): The Impact of Race and Insurance Status

Despite highly effective and well-tolerated regimens for treating hepatitis C virus (HCV), patients face barriers in accessing treatment. In addition to suboptimal HCV screening programs and lack of effective linkage-to-care, other barriers include strict requirements from some payers to cover treatment. This study reports insurance status and Hispanic ethnicity as predictors of not receiving treatment. These barriers occur despite the fact that HCV is the most common indication for liver transplantation and cause of hepatocellular carcinoma in the U.S. Therefore, it is critical that policymakers bring all the stakeholders together and develop a national policy to eradicate HCV infection from the U.S.

July 9, 2018

Article: Merck’s Zepatier (grazoprevir/elbasvir) plus Gilead Sciences’ Sovaldi (sofosbuvir), with or without ribavirin, cured genotype 3 of hepatitis C virus (HCV) at high rates in a recent trial.
Abstract, here...

On This Blog

The controversy over expensive new drugs for hepatitis C
Link to research and news articles addressing the high cost of hepatitis C drugs; insurance restrictions - private insurers/Medicaid - and availability of generic versions.