Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Mass. AG Investigating Gilead Over Hep C and HIV Drug Costs
The New York Times: Gilead Faces Fights Over Hepatitis C And H.I.V. Drugs
The attorney general of Massachusetts said on Wednesday that she had opened an inquiry into whether Gilead Sciences had violated state consumer protection laws by charging too much for its hepatitis C drugs. ... [And] on Tuesday, the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, a nonprofit organization that treats patients with H.I.V. and AIDS, filed a lawsuit seeking to invalidate patents covering the new version of Gilead’s mainstay H.I.V. drug, tenofovir. The lawsuit also says that Gilead, to maximize product life span but to the detriment of patients, delayed the introduction of the new, safer version of tenofovir until the old version was about to lose patent protection. (Pollack, 1/27)
The Wall Street Journal: Massachusetts Examining Gilead’s Hepatitis C Drug Pricing
The Massachusetts attorney general’s office is investigating whether Gilead Sciences Inc.’s pricing of its hepatitis C drugs violates state laws on unfair trade practices, according to a letter from the prosecutor that also asked the company to lower its prices. The costs for drugs Sovaldi and Harvoni are a significant burden on state Medicaid and prison programs that must care for large populations of hepatitis C patients, Attorney General Maura Healey wrote, and not all patients can get access to the potentially curative treatments. (Rockoff, 1/27)
The Associated Press: Massachusetts Is Investigating High Cost Of Hepatitis C Drug
The Massachusetts attorney general's office said Wednesday that it is investigating whether the makers of a breakthrough treatment for hepatitis C are violating state law by pricing the drugs too high. Attorney General Maura Healey on Wednesday publicly released the letter she sent Jan. 22 to John Martin, chairman and chief executive of California-based Gilead Sciences Inc. In it, she called on the company to adjust its pricing structure to make two drugs more widely accessible to those who need them. (Salsberg, 1/27)
The Boston Globe: AG Warns Maker On Hepatitis Drug Costs
Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey, opening a new front in the push to boost access to life-saving drugs, has warned the country’s biggest biotech company that it faces possible legal action unless it lowers the price of two popular hepatitis C medicines. (Weisman, 1/27)
Reuters: Massachusetts Official Challenges Gilead's Hepatitis C Drug Prices
Massachusetts' attorney general is studying whether prices of Gilead Sciences' blockbuster treatments for hepatitis C violate state law, according to a letter the prosecutor sent to the California-based drugmaker. The letter from the state's Attorney General Maura Healey to Gilead Chief Executive Officer John Martin, dated Jan. 22, asked the biotechnology company to reconsider its pricing for Sovaldi and Harvoni, Gilead's treatments with list prices of $84,000 and $94,500, respectively, per course of treatment. (Pierson and Berkrot, 1/27)
