Segment 6: Setting the Bar for Hepatitis C Treatment Costs

Even with 2 drugs competing with one another and more coming soon, Ed Cohen, PharmD, FAPhA, does not believe additional competition in the marketplace will significantly drive down costs for a hepatitis C cure.

“This product is needed,” he explained and added that the product is only used for a short period of time and it’s a cure. “The overall therapy to save a life—how do you put a price on it?”

Although Express Scripts has been in discussion with companies making other hepatitis C products, Steven Miller, MD, MBA, said it will be hard for any new product to be better than what is already available. The big opportunity is to develop a product treating more than genotypes 1 and 4, which the current products are recommended for.