Biotech Values

[biotech jim]

The health insurers say they merely want to secure lower prices for consumers and more transparency about how drug prices are determined. Democrat Ron Wyden and Republican Chuck Grassley of the Senate Finance Committee seem to have missed this subtlety.

In a recent letter to Gilead, the Senators question "the extent to which the market for this drug is operating efficiently and rationally" and suggest that Sovaldi's price "appears to be higher than expected given the costs of development." They go on to make 21 demands for information with 41 subparts and 28 footnotes, such as "an itemized accounting of research and development costs" including "separate line items for personnel costs, clinical studies, materials and supplies, licenses and fees" and on and on.

Does anyone know to what extent GILD is required to provide answers to the Senators' questions? Since these are 'demands', what are the consequences of not providing answers in so far as some answers would likely include proprietary information. Is there a precedent for asking for and receiving such type of information?

On a related note, why don't the Senators ask VRTX and MRK and other Hep C drug developers who previously had marketed Hep C drug(s) the same questions? The precedent for the high price point does not lie with GILD per se but with at least VRTX and MRK for their pricey protease inhibitors Incivek and Victrelis.

Here is a nice summary of current (and some future) treatments for Hep C.

http://www.hepmag.com/drug_list_hepatitisc.shtml