Prices of hepatitis C treatments are pretty high, and start at $26,400 for the least expensive treatment. https://sunnypharma.info/epclusa-cost
Cost of Harvoni $94,500 – 12 weeks of treatment and $189,000 for 24 weeks of treatment
Cost of Epclusa $78,078 – 12 weeks of treatment
Cost of Sovaldi $84,000 – 12 weeks of treatment and $168,000 for 24 weeks of treatment
Cost of Mavyret $26,400 – 8 weeks of treatment
Cost of Zepatier $54,600 – 12 weeks of treatment
Cost of Technivie $76,653 – 12 weeks of treatment
Cost of Vosevi $78,078 – 12 weeks of treatment
Pharmaceutical companies have spent billions of dollars on research and development.
It took years to come up with this type of hep C treatment with a high cure rate.
This could possibly explain why this medicine is so expensive.
Another reason maybe why its expensive; high cure rates of 95% to 99% and low side effects.
Gilead Sciences, the manufacturer of the medicine priced it cheaper than a liver transplant.
Liver transplant in the US is about $577,000 to $750,000.
Pay a big price now, so you don’t have to pay bigger price for a liver transplant.
As a daughter of an amazing father who had hepatitis C, I don’t agree with this logic. Sorry.
The average person with hep C is not able to pay for the medicine or a liver transplant.
Most people are not happy about it, even if your insurance may or may not cover it.
What is the cost with insurance?
hep c treatment cost with insurance
Most insurers do not cover hep C treatments like Harvoni, Sovaldi, Epclusa, Daklinza, Mavyret and others.
Two reasons for this:
Cost of the HCV treatment is very very expensive
Not “medically necessary” until liver failure
If you are one of the exceptions (you are lucky), your insurance company may help.
Then, you have to consider the copay of $10,000 to $38,000.
Some people go ahead and come up with a copay so they can afford the treatment.
Others (most people) are scrambling looking for ways to reduce the copay or even eliminate it.
Or, they appeal their insurance company to approve the medication.
Unfortunately, getting your treatment approved is only 23% for those with insurance.
As a result we get a ton of emails regularly asking “I’ve been denied by my insurance, can you help me get my hepatitis C treatment.”
What if you don’t have insurance?
harvoni without health insuranceHarvoni without health insurance
Those without insurance, have a few options.
All hepatitis C drug manufacturers have a website to apply to get treatment free of cost.
NeedyMeds.com
MySupportPath.com
MedicineAssistanceTool.org
Remember, to do more digging online.
Sooner or later you will find a good source to get your treatment paid for or get it at a lower price.
You may even be the uber lucky person and get it for FREE.
So far, you have read about the history of HCV, new treatments (DAAs) and their costs.
Now, we are going to dive in to generic hep C drugs.
What are authorized generics?
generic hep c drugsAuthorized generics of Harvoni and Epclusa launched
Gilead Sciences decided to put out the generics of Harvoni and Epclusa 10 to 15 years early before their patents expired.
Cost of sofosbuvir 400mg ledipasvir 90mg, a generic of Harvoni, is $24,000 for 12 weeks course and $48,000 for 24 weeks course.
Cost of sofosbuvir 400mg velpatasvir 100mg, a generic of Epclusa, is $24,000 for 12 weeks course.
There are three reasons for the availability of hep C generics:
Competition (Abbvie’s Mavyret) is selling for $26,400
Increase sales (revenue & profits) from licensing out more authorized generics to India.
Provide Medicare/Medicaid patients a discount of $2,500 for each treatment (unfortunately this doesn’t add up to any real cost savings).
The generics, allow Gilead Sciences to compete with cheaper hepatitis C treatments currently in the marketplace.
Many of you probably watched on 60 Minutes, 20/20 and Fox news about low priced identical generics from India that are fraction of the cost.
Bloomberg News and CNN aired a special report the cost of Harvoni tablet is $1125 in the US and in India its less than $10 a pill.
Why the huge price difference?
The best answer we have found is Gilead Sciences paid about $11.2 billion dollars for Pharmasset Inc, the company that invented sofosbuvir, the main ingredient in Sovaldi, Epclusa, Harvoni and Vosevi.
Gilead had to recoup their multi billion dollar investment.
Which they certainly did.
Gilead made $48 billion dollars from 2015 to 2019 from selling hepatitis C medicine.
Only drawback to making such a good profit is, many state health budgets went bust and quite a high number of patients could not afford hep C treatments.
Also, many died due to liver failure before they could be approved for treatment.
We are going to put those days behind us, because there is no genuine excuse in getting cured for hepatitis C.
In the following section we will discover why Harvoni price in India or Epclusa price in India is much lower than in the US.
What about the generics from India?
generic hep c drugsGeneric hepatitis C treatments
Hep C treatment cost in India is around $675 depending on how long your doctor recommends treatment.
This is well known by most Americans and Europeans.
India has been manufacturing hepatitis C generics since 2014, with the approval of Gilead Sciences and the FDA.
Many newspapers around the country (USA), reported in 2014, the cost of Harvoni in India is $675 and cost of Epclusa in India is $675 , for 12 weeks treatment.
Sovaldi cost in India is $495 for 84 days or 12 weeks of treatment.
Sovaldi and Daklinza (daclatasvir) is $595 for a 12 week course.
Why are hepatitis C treatments so cheap in India?
Hepatitis C generic treatments are a lot less in India for 3 very important reasons:
India has an established pharmaceutical industry & infrastructure since 1963
Cost of manufacturing and labor is considerably lower than in the US or Europe
Cost to make hep C meds in large volume is not expensive
Since, the early 1960’s India has been providing the American people with affordable medicine at a fraction of the cost.
All hepatitis C treatment manufacturing facilities are checked and approved by the US FDA and Gilead Sciences.
Today, India manufactures 55% of all tablets and injections that are in the US market.
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