Attorney General of Massachusetts, Maura Healey, sent a letter to Gilead CEO John Martin pretty much telling him to lower the prices of his drugs or they are going to hit them with the full force of the law in Massachusetts.
“I write to encourage you to reconsider Gilead’s pricing structure for Sovaldi and Harvoni … so that we may actually see this infectious disease eradicated in the United States in our lifetime,” she wrote, adding that her office will “continue to examine this potential claim for unfair commercial conduct.”
The two drugs, Sovaldi and Harvoni with are Hepatitis C medications are currently priced at $84k for a full course of Sovaldi and $94k for Harvoni. Because you know….capitalism.
Gilead is currently down up to 2%+ on the day.
This is a bunch of political bombasting. If Ms. Healey would do her homework, she would find out that older treatments (not CURES), which by definition are less effective and are more dangerous, were priced almost $100K higher.
Moreover, if she had a mind for business, she would realize that the $84K-$94K is much cheaper in the long run than having to treat for a lifetime. Plus, insurance and tax payers pick up a hefty amount of the sticker price.
I’d be more than thrilled to debate her on this topic.
Please do. I’ll set it up.