(Reuters) Kaiser Permanente, the biggest U.S. health maintenance organization, said it is using Gilead Sciences’ new hepatitis C drug, Sovaldi, even though its $84,000 treatment price is “outrageous.”
The medication is widely viewed as a breakthrough that can cure a majority of hepatitis C patients, often within 12 weeks. Analysts project 2017 sales of $9.1 billion, according to Thomson Reuters Pharma.
But Gilead has come under fire, from insurers and Congress, for Sovaldi’s $1,000-a-pill price at a time when U.S. healthcare spending is under scrutiny and President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act aims to make health coverage accessible to everyone.
