Not too much hiss

29 June 2020 By Robert Cyran Follow @rob_cyran

Its Covid-19 treatment will set governments back about $2,300 per course – more than it costs to make but far less than U.S. patients would incur with longer hospital stays. There are many ways to decide the value of a drug. Gilead is, perhaps wisely, being relatively restrained.

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Gilead Sciences said on June 29 that it had set the price for remdesivir, a potential treatment for Covid-19, at $390 a vial for governments of developed nations, equating to $2,340 for a five-day course.

In the United States, private insurers will be charged $3,120 for a five-day treatment cycle. In developing countries, Gilead has agreed to let generic firms like Cipla produce and sell the drug at a lower cost.

In a randomized clinical trial earlier this year, remdesivir was shown to reduce recovery time in hospitalized patients by four days. Gilead says that would save $12,000 in the case of a U.S. patient.

The Institute for Clinical and Economic Review estimated a price of $1,010 to $1,600 per patient would offset the company’s costs of production and development in 2020, and that remdesivir would be cost-effective at up to $5,080 per treatment course.

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