Pharma Sells States On ‘Netflix Model’ To Wipe Out Hep C. But At What Price?

(By JoNel Aleccia, Barbara Feder Ostrov, and Donna Gordon Blankinship for Kaiser Health News)

When a long, black bus bearing the logo of drugmaker AbbVie rolls through Washington state next year, it will promote a new effort to eradicate hepatitis C infections.

The state is paying for the marketing campaign as part of a deal to give AbbVie the exclusive right to treat its citizens who have the potentially deadly liver disease. Armed with its medication, Mavyret, AbbVie beat out rivals Merck and Gilead Sciences in a blind bidding process.

It’s the second time this year that a state has struck a novel deal with a pharmaceutical company to obtain drugs that can cure hepatitis C ― with discounts from a price that came to market at $84,000 for a course of treatment.  Continue reading article here…

Kaiser Health News is a nonprofit national health policy news service that is part of the nonpartisan Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation

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