United Health chooses Gilead's Harvoni as its preferred hepatitis C treatment over AbbVie's Viekira Pak. Three other huge insurers have done likewise. The battle continues as Express Scripts went with the Viekira Pak. Now, they just have to figure out how to pay for it as both run about $90,000 for a 12 week treatment. SMZ [...]
Vertex pulled Incivek, Merck pulls Victrelis, and what will J&J do with the other HEP C compound competing against Gilead and Abbvie? Merck has a few rabbits up their sleeve with a potential approval this year and some M&A, but for now, the battle continues. SMZ
The world spends most of its money on medicine. New study reveals that by the year 2018 the world drug bill will reach approximately $1.3 trillion. The new treatments for cancer and hepatitis C contribute to the rise. Another factor for this increase are the people that buy pharmaceuticals using their rising incomes. The new [...]
Gilead's ($GILD) hep C wonder combo, Harvoni, boasts cure rates as high as 99.1%, and analysts have said they expect it to rack up $10 billion a year in sales, becoming the fastest-growing drug of all time on the way there. But if all of that's the case, then why are U.S. scripts lagging [...]
