How Could the Price of Remdesivir Impact Medicare Spending for COVID-19 Patients?

(Juliette Cubanski, Karyn Schwartz, and Tricia Neuman for Kaiser Family Foundation)

On May 1, 2020, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued an Emergency Use Authorization for remdesivir, a direct acting antiviral drug, for the treatment of COVID-19. Remdesivir is not a cure for COVID-19, but preliminary evidence suggests that it may shorten the recovery time among patients with COVID-19. Remdesivir, branded as Veklury, is manufactured by Gilead. Gilead has donated the first 1.5 million doses of remdesivir at no cost, but the company has yet to set a price for the drug or make it commercially available. Because a relatively large share of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations are among older adults, there is both optimism about the drug’s potential benefits for Medicare beneficiaries and concern about its potential cost to Medicare. If remdesivir has a high price tag, it could have implications for the fiscal health of hospitals and the Medicare program.  Continue reading here…

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