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Drug companies searching for 4-week hepatitis C cure.
In the race to find a faster cure for hepatitis C, Bristol-Myers Squibb Co said it will test its experimental antiviral drug combination with Gilead Sciences Inc's blockbuster drug Sovaldi, hoping to cut treatment time to four weeks.
Bristol-Myers disclosed plans for the exploratory 30-patient trial testing its three-drug combination with Sovaldi in an interview with Reuters. Eric Hughes, the leader of Bristol's global hepatitis program, said the details were due to be posted on the clinicaltrials.gov website next week.
Sovaldi's $84,000 price tag for a 12-week treatment has spurred outrage among insurers, state health officials and lawmakers who fear the cost of treating millions of Americans with the progressive liver disease will top $250 billion. Insurers are pushing Gilead's rivals to offer lower prices when their hepatitis C medicines reach the market.
Using the drug for a shorter course of treatment could, in theory, lower the cost, even when combined with Bristol's therapies. Rivals Merck & Co and AbbVie are also racing to develop next-generation hepatitis C treatments that cure most people of the virus in a shorter time frame.
But drug pricing experts expect Gilead and its rivals may still argue that the quicker cure represents a value to patients, buffering any steep price reductions.
"The position and concept of pharma is not ingredient costs or duration of treatment cost. Pharma is looking at it as cost per cure," said John Whang, co-president of Reimbursement Intelligence, which works with pharmaceutical companies and payers to help determine prices for medicines.
The cost could come down, he said, "but it's not going to be proportionate to the degree that the duration of treatment shortens."
http://www.foxnews.com/health/2014/06/20/drug-companies-searching-for-four-week-hepatitis-c-cure/
Bristol-Myers disclosed plans for the exploratory 30-patient trial testing its three-drug combination with Sovaldi in an interview with Reuters. Eric Hughes, the leader of Bristol's global hepatitis program, said the details were due to be posted on the clinicaltrials.gov website next week.
Sovaldi's $84,000 price tag for a 12-week treatment has spurred outrage among insurers, state health officials and lawmakers who fear the cost of treating millions of Americans with the progressive liver disease will top $250 billion. Insurers are pushing Gilead's rivals to offer lower prices when their hepatitis C medicines reach the market.
Using the drug for a shorter course of treatment could, in theory, lower the cost, even when combined with Bristol's therapies. Rivals Merck & Co and AbbVie are also racing to develop next-generation hepatitis C treatments that cure most people of the virus in a shorter time frame.
But drug pricing experts expect Gilead and its rivals may still argue that the quicker cure represents a value to patients, buffering any steep price reductions.
"The position and concept of pharma is not ingredient costs or duration of treatment cost. Pharma is looking at it as cost per cure," said John Whang, co-president of Reimbursement Intelligence, which works with pharmaceutical companies and payers to help determine prices for medicines.
The cost could come down, he said, "but it's not going to be proportionate to the degree that the duration of treatment shortens."
http://www.foxnews.com/health/2014/06/20/drug-companies-searching-for-four-week-hepatitis-c-cure/
Have you checked with your Dr's Ofc or Pharmacy about assistance from PAN Foundation?
I agree pooh. Well said. This is the same argument Sovaldi used when justifying it's high cost. Just like everything else in this world, less cost more it seems.
In my case, I have good insurance but will still owe a lot I'm sure. I just worry about those who don't and hope they will find a way to pay less or nothing at all with the same quality treatment.
jack
In my case, I have good insurance but will still owe a lot I'm sure. I just worry about those who don't and hope they will find a way to pay less or nothing at all with the same quality treatment.
jack
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I am not holding my breath on the drugs being much cheaper than they are. The drug companies are in this to make money so I don't see the patients getting a break just because it is a shorter treatment. In fact, it would not surprise me if it were higher in cost.
Regardless, at least the companies are outdoing themselves trying to find a cure (even if it is so they can rake in the money), and finding a more effective cure is a positive thing. Hopefully more and more lives will be saved and more people will be spared advancing fibrosis and everything that entails.