WSJ: High Drug prices put Gilead under Fire from Senate Committee

The Wall Street Journal highlighted a U.S. Senate report on Gilead Sciences Inc. GILD saying that the pharmaceutical giant knew that their high prices for their Hepatitis C drug would put the medicine out of reach for many patients that needed the treatment. The company priced their drug Solvaldi at $84,000 per patient for a 12 week treatment.

According to Peter Loftus, a journalist at the WSJ, “Gilead was “fully aware that as the prices kicked up, the number of Americans treated and cured would go down,” Sen. Ron Wyden, a Democrat from Oregon and ranking member of the committee, said at a news conference in Washington Tuesday. “Yet based on our investigation, the company chose to put revenue ahead of affordability, of accessibility for millions of patients.”

Gilead argues that they priced their two primary Hepatitis drugs, Solvaldi and Harvoni at a proper rate due to demand and market conditions. Executives point to the fact that the company's drug prices were initially similar with other Hepatitis C treatments and that Gilead provides financial assistance to uninsured patients that need the medication. The two medications have been a major source of revenue for Gilead, generating $14.2 billion in 2015.

Gilead closed Tuesday at $105.85, down 0,10 percent.