Boston, MA 06/17/2014 (wallstreetpr) – The Vigilance Agency of Britain’s healthcare says that it needs more information about pricing of the new hepatitis C drug Sovaldi by Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD). Further information will help the Administrator to take a call whether to use it for state health services or not. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is not in favour of recommending this particular product, also called as sofosbuvir. The pending decision has put a roadblock for its widespread distribution in Britain.
According to evidences, sofosbuvir can effectively treat hepatitis C in some patients with chronic condition as confirmed by the Director of NICE, Carole Longson. Perhaps, evidences lack for some subgroup of patients and contains certain uncertainties in the base provided by manufacturer.
Why Gilead’s Drug Is Different?
Moreover, Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) releases some more data on Sovaldi combining with second drug for hepatitis C named ledipasvir. Gilead Sciences expects this addition of information would not let NICE to reject the drug. As per study by Japanese, patients with commonly spread and most difficult form of virus, Genotype 1 are able to show 100 percentage of cure using Sovaldi and ledipasvir combination. With twelve weeks of Therapy, 83 patients out of 83 showed up positive cure, which were treated previously.
As soon as ledipasvir gets approval, it will be manufactured and sold as a pill along with Sovaldi. Although being more effective and having better durability, Sovaldi is an effective treatment in comparison to other treatments but its high cost invites criticism from healthcare practitioners and other campaigners. A twelve-week course of treatment using Sovaldi cost US $84000 i.e US$1000 for each pill daily. However, in Britain, its cost is bit low up to 35000 pounds i.e. US$ 58800.
The Justification
Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) along with other peers argues that the price is quite economical as it comes with a guarantee for sure cure with fewer side effects. In addition to this, the drug helps patients to avoid costly hospitalizations during liver failure or transplantations at the advanced stage of the disease and all this compensates the current cost.
