Gilead and Aetna are battling it out amongst each other regarding the prices of their drugs. As mentioned in the coverage policy by Aetna, it will prefer Gilead’s drug Harvoni and Sovaldi. These drugs are being offered at discounted prices than AbbVie’s newly approved Vierra Pak for the treatment of Hepatitis C. however, the amount has not been disclosed yet. Aetna’s coverage policy can be useful for Gilead to re-gain its market share in treatment of liver-destroying virus.
As competition between Gilead sciences and AbbVie in terms of prices continues Gilead shares went up to 3 %. As one of the US largest health insurer Aetna Inc. provided the desired status to Gilead science Inc. for the treatment of hepatitis C. Gilead hepatitis C treatment becomes available to nearly 11 million commercial customers helping its stock to reach up to $100.71, Bloomberg analyst Asthika Goonewardene observed a drastic increase in the consumption of Harvoni, compared to the usage of Viekira Pak. In order to cope with the loss AbbVie has been trying to eliminate Gilead’s treatment off the market by offering discounts to pharmaceutical managers.
Health insurers have been forcing Gilead and AbbVie to lower the prices of their expensive dealings, claiming them to be unaffordable. Gilead’s Harvoni is priced at $94,500, whereas Sovaldi costs about $84,000 for a complete course. However, Viekira Pak costs $10,000 lower. Chief medical officer Steven Miller said, for the first time in the history of pharmaceutical industry that a price-war has emerged. This will bolster the treatment of hepatitis to a great extent since almost 170,000 people will get hepatitis treatment in 2015, compared to 100,000 last year.Later, Gilead signed deals with, CVS Health Corp, the Humana Inc, a managed health care, and one of the largest US pharmacy insurers, Anthem Inc. for special coverage of its treatment against high discount price. A discount of 30% was being is said to be offered by Gilead but the company has not officially revealed anything.Gilead’s deal with top of the line pharmacy benefits health insurers, securities its ability to earn accretive revenue from its treatment of hepatitis C. According to RBC Capital analyst Michael Yee, the sales for Gilead’s liver destroying virus treatments will increase by $15 billion globally and it will continue to increase as the prescription numbers gets reveal.
