Matt Agorist – There’s a Cure for Hepatitis and the Pill Only Costs $4, But if You Live in America it Costs $1,000

On April 8, 2013, the pharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences, Inc., filed a New Drug Application claiming to be able to cure hepatitis C. They received the FDA’s coveted Breakthrough Therapy Designation, which is is given to drugs that show significant treatment advantages to existing options. In an incredibly fast review process, the FDA approved Gilead Sciences’ Sovaldi for the treatment of chronic …

David Dayen – Why Are Drug Monopolies Running Amok?

One of the biggest policy debates in America today concerns the unparalleled rise in prescription drug costs. Enormous pharmaceutical industry profit margins; tales of companies like Turing, Valeant, and Gilead Sciences jacking up the price of life-saving medicines; and a spate of industry mergers (the latest being a $150 billion deal between Pfizer and Allergan, designed mostly to lower their …

Prescription Drug Spending Jumps to All Time High in 2014 – Brian Wu

According to a report from the IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics , Americans spent more money on drugs than they ever have before with spending jumping by 13% to $374 billion, driven by innovative but expensive new drugs designed to treat Hepatitis C. The new hepatitis C drugs accounted for more than $11 billion of the spending with the influx …