Updates

Specialty drugs and health care costs

Jan 6, 2015

As the year came to a close, many employers were reviewing 2014 expenses to help plan spending for the new year. Read More

Drug pricing concerns? Not at Gilead

Jan 5, 2015

After drug pricing concerns weighed on Gilead Sciences' stock toward the end of December, the drugmaker has kicked off 2015 the same way it did the previous two years: by increasing prices on several products. Read More

Gilead Drops After Drug Manager Blocks $1,000 Hep C Pill

Dec 22, 2014

Gilead shares sank after the biggest drug-benefit manager in the U.S. chose a pill from AbbVie to be the sole hepatitis C treatment approved for many patients, as insurers seek to rein in the rising cost of medicine. Read More

Gilead’s Dispute With Insurers Leaves Doctors on Sidelines

Dec 22, 2014

Doctors caught in the middle of an escalating battle over U.S. drug prices are losing influence over their patients’ treatment even as they gain an opportunity to treat more people more affordably. Read More

Special Sale Price: Docs Divided Over Discount on AbbVie Hepatitis C Drug

Dec 22, 2014

The decision by Express Scripts to make the AbbVie hepatitis C treatment the exclusive option for patients with the most common type of the virus caused a ruckus on Wall Street, although the reaction among some doctors and patient advocates was mixed. Read More

Public employees plan takes Sovaldi cost to court

Dec 11, 2014

The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transit Authority, or Septa, has a workforce of around 9,000, with many more covered in a health plan for retirees, and says it has spent $2.4 million on Sovaldi through the first 11 months of the year. Read More

A new lawsuit claims $84,000 is way too much for this lifesaving drug

Dec 11, 2014

The federal lawsuit from Philadelphia's public transit agency appears to be the first directly challenging the price of Sovaldi, which costs $84,000 overall during a normal 12-week course of treatment in the United States. Read More

How this medication became 50 times more expensive overnight in the US

Dec 3, 2014

Lately, there has been a lot of of interest over a new drug to cure Hepatitis C—a disease that’s surpassed AIDS in number of death since 2007. Sovaldi, a medication produced by American pharmaceutical company Gilead, has a 90% success rate in treating the disease compared to a 50% success rate of the other existing treatments. Read More

Consumers Will Pay More Out Of Pocket Next Year For Specialty Drugs

Dec 2, 2014

People with health coverage – including those who buy it through government insurance exchanges and Medicare beneficiaries – are likely to pay more out-of-pocket next year for so-called “specialty drugs,” which treat complex conditions, according to two studies from consulting firm Avalere Health. Read More

This drug costs $84,000 – And there’s nothing the US health-care system can do to stop it

Dec 2, 2014

The first thing Philip Mason noticed was the hair loss. The 73-year-old retiree, a former computer programmer, began shedding hair from his arms, legs, everywhere on his body. “It just all came right off,” he said. After the hair loss came weight loss; Mason dropped from 150 to 125 pounds. He felt weak and sick. Mason, who is blind and already used a white cane to get around, began having falls. He switched to a walker for more stability. Read More

Biosimilars: The New Class Of Drugs That Can Help Cut Costs

Dec 2, 2014

Healthcare spending represents the single-largest share of the U.S. federal budget in fiscal year 2014—coming in at a whopping trillion dollars. Read More

[Kaiser Health News] Costly Hepatitis C Treatments Help Drive 12 Percent Drug Spending Jump

Nov 20, 2014

After several years of modest increases, American spending on medications is projected to shoot up by 12 percent this year, pushing the nation’s drug bill to between $375 billion and $385 billion, according to a report by the IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics. Read More