Senators Wyden and Grassley Request Public Comments on Gilead Pricing

On the heels of their December 1, 2015, report on Gilead Sciences' pricing of Hepatitis C drugs Sovaldi and Harvoni, United States Senate Finance Committee leadership, namely Senators Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Ron Wyden (D-OR), have asked for public comments from the patient and healthcare stakeholder community on the report's findings. As a refresher, the report determined that Gilead had priced their products by prioritizing revenue and maximizing profit over patient access. The way Gilead prioritized revenue and profit over patient access wound up severely limiting patient access, particularly among beneficiaries who are covered by public benefit programs. The Finance Committee argued that Gilead "was determined to keep the drugs' wholesale prices high and payer discounts low 'whatever competitors do or whatever the headlines.'" The report stated that, "the public and private payer community continue to face a higher cost for the prevailing (new) standard of care, and higher overall costs because the new generation of HCV drugs is better tolerated and will most likely be far more widely prescribed." Many of the questions Senators Grassley and Wyden are requesting answers for center around how to address policy issues, including the financial ramifications of high prices of breakthrough drugs, while still ensuring patient access and market transparency. "Thoughtful feedback" is requested on the following topics: (1) the possible effects of a breakthrough, single sou...
Source: Policy and Medicine - Category: American Health Authors: Source Type: blogs