French Transparency agency backs Gilead’s new hepatitis C drug Sovaldi

There was good news for US antivirals major Gilead Sciences (Nasdaq: GILD), when France’s health technology assessment agency, Commission de la Transparence, issued a positive recommendation for the firm’s new breakthrough chronic hepatitis C treatment Sovaldi (sofosbuvir).

According to Ben Levisohn writing in Barron's magazine, the Committee voted unanimously for Sovaldi to be assigned SMR rating of ”Important” and ASMR rating of ”II.” He said: “Both ratings together, we believe, should give GILD high negotiation leverage to secure premium pricing in France. We note that historically, ASMR’s rating of “I” is assigned only to agents considered to have made an "important” improvement to the standard-of-care and such agents have been able to command strong pricing power (eg, Soliris [eculizumab]).”

The French recommendation comes shortly after the German Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) reported that it had  found an “indication of added benefit for specific patients” with Sovaldi.