Drug manufacturer Gilead didn’t consider affordability when setting the price of its new drugs — according to an investigation by the U.S. Senate Finance Committee.
When Gilead came out with its new Hepatitis C drugs, it set the price at $1,000 a pill.
That meant last year, Medicare and Medicaid spent more than $5 billion on the drugs before rebates - and many states restricted their use.
Senate Finance Committee member, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), said their investigation found Gilead’s paperwork hardly mentioned the usual reasons given for high prices — like research and development — and instead just focused on maximizing revenues.
“If Gilead’s approach is the future of how block-buster drugs are launched, it’s going to cost billions of dollars to treat just a fraction of the health care patients in America,” said Wyden.
Gilead issued a statement defending its prices, saying the new drugs cost less than the old ones and work better.
