The next generation of hepatitis C treatments has investors excited--not to mention doctors, patients and drug company executives. But if the past is any indicator, those newfangled drugs are likely to be dear. Hep C is a devastating disease, curing it saves payers money in the long run, and plenty of insured patients are ready to step up.

But even before the first of these breakthrough meds hits the market, patient advocates like Doctors Without Borders are raising a red flag on prices. As Pharmalot reports, they've gained some ammo from a production cost analysis by some academics at Liverpool University. Under their model, making the Gilead Sciences ($GILD) drug sofosbuvir--closest to approval with a Dec. 7 FDA review deadline--would cost an estimated $68 to $136 for a 12-week supply of a 400-mg dose.

There are plenty of things wrong with this number. The Liverpool researchers made a set of assumptions about production based on the cost to make HIV drugs, pegging hep C manufacturing at one to 10 times the cost of common HIV meds, depending on complexity and so forth. Whether that includes the capital required to build plants and ramp up production--which Gilead is doing now on sofosbuvir--isn't clear. Whether it includes the cost of R&D seems highly unlikely at that rate. 

The next generation of hepatitis C treatments has investors excited--not to mention doctors, patients and drug company executives. But if the past is any indicator, those newfangled drugs are likely to be dear. Hep C is a devastating disease, curing it saves payers money in the long run, and plenty of insured patients are ready to step up.

But even before the first of these breakthrough meds hits the market, patient advocates like Doctors Without Borders are raising a red flag on prices. As Pharmalot reports, they've gained some ammo from a production cost analysis by some academics at Liverpool University. Under their model, making the Gilead Sciences ($GILD) drug sofosbuvir--closest to approval with a Dec. 7 FDA review deadline--would cost an estimated $68 to $136 for a 12-week supply of a 400-mg dose.

There are plenty of things wrong with this number. The Liverpool researchers made a set of assumptions about production based on the cost to make HIV drugs, pegging hep C manufacturing at one to 10 times the cost of common HIV meds, depending on complexity and so forth. Whether that includes the capital required to build plants and ramp up production--which Gilead is doing now on sofosbuvir--isn't clear. Whether it includes the cost of R&D seems highly unlikely at that rate. 

Information source：http://www.fiercepharma.com/story/breakthrough-hep-c-meds-arent-yet-sale-critics-already-taking-aim-prices/2013-11-12