WASHINGTON (AP) - A pill $ 1,000-per-drugs that insurers are reluctant to pay for it quickly became the treatment of choice for viral liver disease, losing, more than 3 million Americans are affected.
In less than six months, the conditions for Sovaldi overshadowed the rest of the pills for hepatitis C in combination, according to new data from IMS Health. The prospect of a real cure, with fewer unpleasant side effects, it is tempting to thousands of patients before the first time.
But the clinical and commercial success is based on a review by the drug manufacturer, California-based Gilead Sciences Inc., which just announced the second quarter resulted in a profit of 3.66 billion U.S. dollars, a net margin of 56 percent.
Two senior senators raised questions about the documents suggest that the initial treatment of developers Sovaldi rates than less than half. The health insurance industry publicly chastise Gilead and Medicaid programs that provide health insurance to repel the bad condition.
The impact on the patient may go for a drug and a disease.
Some approved of the following costs promising cancer drugs could offer storm. The average cost of brand name drugs cancer has doubled in a decade to about $ 10,000 per month.
"You can not put too much emphasis on the nature of the moral dilemma we have here," said Michael Kleinrock, director of the Institute IMS, examines the trends in prescription drugs. "This is something that aligned the pharmaceutical industry based on research all the time. A Cure But when they arrive, we can not afford that?"
New data from IMS Health, the parent company of Connecticut Institute, illustrate the effects of Sovaldi since its inception in December:
The total number of pills pharmacy explodes recipes for all hepatitis C patients emphasizes need for treatment. In May, more than 48,000 prescriptions for four of these drugs were filled with Sovaldi that three quarters of the total. In comparison, the requirements for May 2013 amounted to about 6,200. That was before Sovaldi was available.
-In the first 30 weeks of Sovaldi market, 62 000 new patients have the drug, nearly three times more trying than had been previously attempted, a drug that showed the original promise. This makes it the most successful launch Sovaldi drug for hepatitis C. And Gilead is hoping for a successor as soon as the treatment easier to bear because they do not require patients to take additional medication with significant side effects.
-The weekly number of new patients are Sovaldi gradually slowed down in 2900, in February and March to approximately 1,600 to 1,800 in late June and early July. This could indicate that the initial pent-up demand will lead to more stable level, or it could mean that insurers limit access to protect their households.
Hepatitis C has surpassed AIDS as a cause of death in the United States in 2007, claiming nearly 15,000 lives this year. The disease is complex, with different virus types require different treatments. While it step by step in the course of time, the liver and transplantation to destroy an average of $ 577,000.
The cost of a 12-week treatment with two drugs of the company Sovaldi patients also need to take is about $ 100,000. Competitor plans with other medicines for the treatment of hepatitis C in medium and costs up to five numbers and some are much less effective and more difficult to bear.
Hepatitis C is a public health problem, because the disease can sometimes shares will be transmitted by contact with blood of infected drug users, the needles and sexual activity. Many people are unaware that they are infected. Health authorities recommend that all baby boomers to get tested.
In the health system clinical liver Mount Sinai in New York, said patient advocate Angela Sovaldi Woody said the outlook for patients. But getting the approval of the insurance can be a sustained effort.
"We have not all those who had not received the drug," Woody said. "We had to jump through many hoops. Patients we have two in January and really want to go on medication to April."
The effects of Sovaldi costs Medicare and Medicaid increasingly rare bipartisan cooperation in Congress on an issue of health care.
Sen. Ron Wyden and Sen. Charles Grassley Gilead ask for a detailed explanation of the price. Wyden is chairman of the Finance Committee, the Medicare and supervised Grassley is a veteran of safety investigations and drugs.
Senators say that they are their personal data from public records that have been discovered $ 84,000 price for a complete treatment Sovaldi for the most common type of hepatitis C in question Gilead
In the year 2011 found documents with federal regulators on the market, the company that originally developed Sovaldi estimated a cost of $ 36,000. This figure has been developed in the negotiations of Gilead, Pharmasset to buy the original developers.
Gilead spokeswoman Amy Flood said the company has no comment.
But the vice president Gregg Alton has, Gilead recently with the question in a public forum, sponsored by the American Enterprise Institute, a think-tank.
"I suggest that the cure of a disease such as hepatitis C should be priced at $ 36,000 ... would be a major obstacle to investment in the cure for our industry," he said.
And the risk - Gilead have provided most of the challenge to get government approval for Sovaldi, Alton said.
He suggested a different standard for measuring the value of Sovaldi so-called "cost per treatment." As Alton, the Sovaldi like a good deal, explained.
Older regimen for hepatitis C last longer and are less effective, and the estimated cost per treatment Alton between $ 150,000 and $ 200,000. Included are drugs that patients need to take the company.
"With leading Sovaldi regime to $ 115,000 per treatment," Alton said. "In fact, it is a per treatment much less expensive."