When Good Health Costs Too much

Revelations that American biotech giant, Gilead Sciences, has discounted their wonder drug, Sovaldi, to the Hepatitis C plagued nation of Egypt, by 99% of its American price tag, has raised eyebrows on Capital Hill. The news, reported by Reuters, came as company representatives underwent congressional questioning regarding the high cost of the drug, which received the Federal Drug Administration’s nod of approval late last year. While much of the questioning is mere political posturing, Congress has no authority over what a company charges for its products, the debate turns the spotlight on how financial assistance pharmacy michigan pharmaceutical companies valuate their wares.

Hefty Price Tag for Health

At a $1000 a pill, Sovaldi’s price tag has engendered sticker shock in everyone from health insurers to Medicaid officials when it comes to picking up the tab for a treatment regime that lasts 12-weeks and cost $84,000 despite all evidence of the obvious efficacy of the drug. Sovaldi has proven highly effective in the treatment of Hepatitis C victims with patients exhibiting a more than a 90% recovery rate for a disease that was heretofore untreatable.

Strained pocketbooks notwithstanding, faced with the overwhelming success rate of the treatment, physicians are standing in line to write out prescriptions for the new drug. That being said, what value are the pills, and how effective is the treatment, if nobody can afford to buy them?

In response to congressional inquiries, company representatives noted that they were working with stakeholders to lower the price of the drug. In the meantime, the company stands to profit handsomely at current market prices although news of the congressional ire dampened the price of Gilead shared by upwards of 6%.

Tiered Pricing Schedule

Whereas a patient would require financial assistance in a pharmacy in Michigan, Idaho, Florida, or Texas to even considering beginning a treatment regime, Gilead has discounted the drug to Egypt resulting in a final 12-week treatment cost of about $900. Egypt, home to the largest population of Hepatitis C sufferers in the world, will be paying about 1% the cost of the drug in the United States.

Indeed, according to Gilead, the company is looking to establish a tiered pricing structure tied to a nation’s per capita gross national income. As such, Hepatitis C patients in the United Kingdom can expect to shell out $57,000 and German nationals would pony up $66,000 for the lifesaving treatment.