Gilead's
Harvoni — the first once-daily tablet targeting chronic hepatitis C —
is worth its eye-popping $95,000 price, the California Technology
Assessment Forum has said in a draft report. But the state simply can't
afford it.
Fierce Pharma reported
that the California cost-effectiveness panel has indicated that
Harvoni, which received Food and Drug Administration approval in
October, may be "very cost effective" when measured under a commonly
used metric called "quality-adjusted life year."
But that doesn't
mean California can afford it. Using Harvoni as a treatment for the
state's Medicaid patients and prison population would add $3 billion to
its drug spending, a draft version of the report said, according to
Fierce Pharma.
Read more... Labels: cost prohibitive, efficacy, Harvoni