Gilead to offer hep C drug sofosbuvir at greatly-reduced price in developing countries

US biotech Gilead Sciences (Nasdaq: GILD) has indicated it would charge $2,000 per 24 week treatment course for the hepatitis C drug sofosbuvir (trade name Sovaldi) in developing countries, according to a report in Hindu BusinessLine.

Sovaldi was recently approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (The Pharma Letter December 13, 2013) and is awaiting final clearance in Europe having received a positive opinion from a European Medicines Agency advisory committee. Gilead also indicated it is in negotiations with several generics manufacturers based in India to sign voluntary licenses that would allow for sales of sofosbuvir in only 60 developing countries.

In the USA, Gilead has set the price for this drug at $84,000 per treatment, or $1,000 per pill, and the company has come under heavy criticism for its pricing policy for Sovaldi, which is expected to generate multi-billion dollar sales. The company said it will sell for almost 49,000 euros in Germany (about $66,000), and almost £35,000 pounds (about $57,000) in the UK.