Gilead focused on profit, not patients, Senate report concludes

WASHINGTON — The makers of a breakthrough drug for hepatitis C put profits before patients in pricing the $1,000 pill that cures the liver-wasting disease, Senate investigators said Tuesday.

A bipartisan report from the Senate Finance Committee concluded that Gilead Sciences of Foster City was focused on getting maximum revenue even as the company’s own analysis showed that a lower price would allow more patients to be treated.

[...] Wyden and Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said their 18-month investigation found that the high price significantly limited patient access and heaped huge costs on federal and state health care programs.

At least 27 state Medicaid programs restricted Sovaldi’s use to only the sickest patients.

Hepatitis C is a viral infection that affects an estimated 3 million people in the U.S. and claims more lives than AIDS.

Gilead offered only meager supplemental discounts to state Medicaid programs, and conditioned those on the states’ dropping any restrictions on patient access.

“The evidence shows the company pursued a calculated scheme for pricing and marketing its hepatitis C drug based on one primary goal — maximizing revenue — regardless of the human consequences,” said Wyden.

The price of drugs is the public’s top health care concern in opinion polls, and the 2016 presidential candidates are increasingly paying attention.

The cost pressure from hepatitis drugs on private insurers and government programs is expected to ease as competitor drugs gain a footing in the market.