Tuesday, June 30, 2020

Big Pharma Price Gouging

Gilead Sciences that it will charge U.S. hospitals around $3,120 per privately insured patient for a treatment course of remdesivir, a drug which has proven modestly effective at speeding Covid-19 recovery times. Gilead's pricing works out to around $520 per dose for non-government buyers like hospitals. 

The Wall Street Journal reported that the United States is "the only developed country where Gilead will charge two prices"—one for government buyers ($390 per dose) and one for non-government buyers like hospitals ($520 per dose). The typical remdesivir treatment course consists of around six doses.

The Institute for Clinical and Economic Review research show Gilead could still make a profit by pricing remdesivir at $310 per course.

"Gilead has priced at several thousand dollars a drug that should be in the public domain. For $1 per day, remdesivir can be manufactured at scale with a reasonable profit," Peter Maybarduk, director of Public Citizen's Access to Medicines Program said in a statement. "Gilead did not make remdesivir alone. Public funding was indispensable at each stage, and government scientists led the early drug discovery team. He called the price "an offensive display of hubris and disregard for the public"

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