- Medicaid authorities in Pennsylvania and Colorado limit access to Gilead Sciences' (NASDAQ:GILD) Sovaldi to only the sickest hepatitis C patients citing the exorbitant cost of $84,000 for a 12-week regimen.
- The $1,000/day pill is too expensive to offer many patients who are likely infected with the disease despite the fact that it works better and has fewer side effects than alternative therapies.
- Hepatitis C sufferers are more likely to be minorities with annual incomes below $23,000.
- The recently-FDA-approved Sovaldi generated $139M in sales in December, its first month commercially available.