France pegs Gilead hepatitis C drug at "lowest price in Europe"

Nov 20 France has arranged a major rebate for Gilead Sciences Inc's questionable new hepatitis C drug Sovaldi, under an administration arrangement that guarantees it will be completely reimbursable by wellbeing subsidizing plans.

The Economic Committee for Health Products (CEPS) has settled the cost of a case of Sovaldi at 13,667 euros before duty, a decrease of 5,000 euros on the first cost and "the most reduced cost in Europe", the Health Ministry said on Thursday.

Twelve weeks of treatment will now cost 41,000 euros ($51,373) before duty, against 56,000 euros beforehand.

In the United States, where Sovaldi's high cost has started contention and pushed up insurance agencies' expenses, a 12-week course costs $84,000, or $1,000 per pill.

Nearly 200,000 individuals in France have hepatitis C and the aggregate expense of treatment to the national wellbeing store is 800 million euros a year.

Sovaldi has racked up record deals regardless of a wild verbal confrontation over its value and worries that popularity will put an immense weight on government-run wellbeing arrangements and private safety net providers.

A month ago, U.S. controllers endorsed the offer of another hepatitis C pill from Gilead, called Harvoni, which will cost $94,500 for an enhanced 12-week course of treatment to free patients of the liver-obliterating viral disease.

Harvoni has recently won transitory approbation available to be purchased in France at 16,000 euros a crate however transactions are occurring with the French government going for a lower cost. ($1 = 0.7981 euro)