New Hepatitis C Drug Has Steep Price Tag
Share
Follow Us
Fair Pricing Coalition Says Vertex’s Incivek Price ‘Outrageous’
May 25, 2011
The Fair Pricing Coalition is again sounding the alarm regarding the price of newly approved treatments for hepatitis C, this time questioning the cost of Vertex’s protease inhibitor Incivek (telaprevir). The advocacy group is concerned that Incivek’s price tag of $49,200 per 12-week course will adversely affect the ability of people with HCV to access the drug, while also setting an excessively unreasonable future price point for the many hepatitis C virus (HCV) drugs in the pipeline.
“Merck’s Victrelis costs $48,400 for 48 weeks of treatment,” said FPC member Lynda Dee in a statement from the organization. “Now Vertex has set a price approximately four times greater than Victrelis for 12 weeks of Incivek treatment. While we welcome a shorter course of Incivek treatment, both price points are outrageous. What is worse, you can bet that no future HCV drugs will be priced less than Victrelis and Incivek. What a terrible way to begin!”
Continue reading this entire article:
http://www.aidsmeds.com/articles/incivek_price_advocacy_1667_20508.shtml
3 Comments
As far as drug companies go….Hell is not half full yet !! Those prices are so far out of line, insurance companies won’t pay for them and most people will never be a le to afford them, so why bother to come up with new drugs !!!
aren’t peg/inteferon, costing about 100k? Thats what a research doctor told me in a trial.
I am supposed to start sofosbuvir plus RBV next week – so far as I could find 3 pills a day for 12 weeks sounds like it’ll be $80K, geez I hope not… Can’t see how it will cure people if no one can afford to take it (According to my Dr I am a prime candidate- hope insurance will cover at least 80%… we’ll see I am waiting to hear back hopefully early next week)