\nSenate Lawmaker Eyes Hearing on the Cost of Hepatitis C Treatments<\/a> <\/div>\nPharmalot: WSJ<\/font><\/strong> <\/div>\nBy Ed Silverman <\/div>\nOctober 20, 2013 <\/div>\nResponding to the ongoing controversy over the prices for new hepatitis C treatments, U.S. Sen. Bernard Sanders [I-Vt.] will probably hold a hearing – possibly before the year ends – to examine how the cost is affecting the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, according to his spokesman. Sanders is chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs.<\/p>\n
His interest in a hearing comes as the expense of these medicines helps fuel a national debate over the rising cost of prescription drugs. New hepatitis C treatments, in particular, have caused a ruckus, because they promise cure rates exceeding 90%, which is prompting a sudden surge in prescribing – and subsequent concerns over the effect on insurance budgets. For the past several months, pharmacy benefit managers and state Medicaid programs have complained that the cost of Sovaldi, a treatment sold by Gilead Sciences, may become unsustainable. Sovaldi costs $1,000 a pill, or $84,000, for a 12- week regimen. Gilead maintains the treatment is a cheaper alternative to older forms of care that may be less successful and involve costly hospitalization.<\/p>\n
Federal programs may feel the pinch, as well. A recent forecast from the Veterans Department indicated that Sovaldi will cost the department about $1.3 billion over the next two years. And that’s after a discount the VA receives that brings the cost per pill down to about $543, according to department documents provided earlier this year to the U.S. Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs. A Veterans Affairs spokeswoman writes us that the department added Sovaldi to its national formulary, or list of drugs for which coverage is provided, last March. As of October 1, more than 5,300 veterans have received treatment with Sovaldi, she writes, adding that about 225 patients are started on the treatment each week.<\/p>\n
And so, Sanders “is interested [in holding a hearing,] among other reasons, because of the impact on the VA,” his spokesman tells us. The timing for a hearing, however, remains uncertain. The spokesman says a hearing may occur following the upcoming midterm elections on Nov. 4, “but it’s really up in the air.” This is not the first time Congress has responded to concerns over the cost of hepatitis C medicines. Last July, two members of the U.S. Senate Finance Committee asked Gilead to provide financial information<\/a> about the $11 billion deal in which it acquired the treatment, R&D costs and subsequent pricing forecasts. A committee spokesman tells us the probe remains under way, but could not offer an update.<\/p>\n
We asked Gilead, which has more recently received FDA approval to sell a newer, fixed-dose combination treatment called Harvoni that includes Sovaldi and another compound, for comment and will update you accordingly. [UPDATE:<\/font><\/strong> A A Gilead spokeswoman later sent us this note: "We are not aware of a hearing but we are cooperating with the Committee and responding to their questions."] <\/strong>This is the second time in recent weeks that Sanders has indicated concerns about prescription drug costs. Earlier this month, he was one of two members of Congress who launched an investigation<\/a> into generic drugs and asked 14 drug makers to provide data on what was called the “escalating prices they have been charging” for some medicines.<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\nThis is off the beaten path for me, but I guess some things are so absurd that they pull us in from far and wide. Gilead’s pricing of their Sovaldi at $1000\/pill for a course of treatment recommended to go for three months at one pill a day is too outrageous to even contemplate. I would suggest that the FDA take it off the market and that their patent be revoked. Gilead is holding people with a potentially fatal disease hostage, using our patent laws to support a prohibitive monopoly. This one should be heard by the Supreme Court – conduct unbecoming a company in the health care industry… <\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Senate Lawmaker Eyes Hearing on the Cost of Hepatitis C Treatments Pharmalot: WSJ By Ed Silverman October 20, 2013 Responding to the ongoing controversy over the prices for new hepatitis C treatments, U.S. Sen. Bernard Sanders [I-Vt.] will probably hold a hearing – possibly before the year ends – to examine how the cost is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-50982","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-opinion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/1boringoldman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50982","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/1boringoldman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/1boringoldman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1boringoldman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1boringoldman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50982"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/1boringoldman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50982\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":50988,"href":"https:\/\/1boringoldman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50982\/revisions\/50988"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/1boringoldman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1boringoldman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1boringoldman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}