Rock Creek Pharmaceuticals Inc. (fka RCPIQ)

[Buddhahead]

$1000-a-pill hepatitis C drug jolts US health care system in Fox News, no author cited, June 18, 2014

Excerpts:
"Sovaldi, a new pill for hepatitis C, cures the liver-wasting disease in 9 of 10 patients, but treatment can cost more than $90,000.

Leading medical societies recommend the drug as a first-line treatment, and patients are clamoring for it. But insurance companies and state Medicaid programs are gagging on the price. In Oregon, officials propose to limit how many low-income patients can get Sovaldi."

"More than 3 million Americans carry the hepatitis C virus, and many don't realize it. It's a public health concern since the disease can be transmitted by contact with infected blood, and sometimes through sexual activity. Health officials advise all baby boomers to get tested.

The illness is complex, with distinct virus types requiring different treatments. While it progresses gradually, it can ultimately destroy the liver, and transplants average $577,000.

An estimated 15,000 people died from hepatitis C in the U.S. in 2007, when it surpassed AIDS as a cause of death."

"The nation's largest care provider for chronic hepatitis C, the federal Veterans Administration, sees promise. With 175,000 patients, the VA has started more than 1,850 of them on Sovaldi."

"Drug maker Gilead Sciences, Inc., reported Sovaldi sales of $2.3 billion worldwide in just the first three months of this year. Gilead will not disclose its pricing methods, but vice president Gregg Alton said the drug's high cure rate makes it "a real huge value.""

"The California Technology Assessment Forum, a private group that reviews medical treatments, recently voted Sovaldi a "low value," because it would be cost-prohibitive to treat the high number of potentially eligible patients. But after their own assessment, the Infectious Diseases Society of America and the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases issued clinical guidelines recommending that doctors use Sovaldi as a primary treatment.

Meanwhile, Gilead has a new hepatitis C pill close to approval that will not require interferon use."

Article at:
http://www.foxnews.com/health/2014/06/18/1000-pill-hepatitis-c-drug-jolts-us-health-care-system/