Interesting that you mention that. Shortly after Gilead launched Harvoni, Abbvie (Abbott's spun out drug unit), launched their HCV drug (Viekira Pak).
Abbvie decided to compete on price and immediately locked in a couple very large insurance companies. Basically, they offered a discount and the insurance company/PBM (Express Scripts) agreed to lock out the Gilead drugs.
This caused Gilead to have a bit of a fit, so they offered a competitive discount and locked in the remaining insurers.
If you look at Gilead's financial statements, you'll see that the average discount went from somewhere around 20% (including mandatory gov't discounts), down to 46%. That means the average price for Harvoni dropped from $75K down to $50K. Almost half of list price.[1]
Interestingly, the average price in the US is now lower than the high end of EU prices.
And people say there is no competition in patented drugs!
Abbvie decided to compete on price and immediately locked in a couple very large insurance companies. Basically, they offered a discount and the insurance company/PBM (Express Scripts) agreed to lock out the Gilead drugs.
This caused Gilead to have a bit of a fit, so they offered a competitive discount and locked in the remaining insurers.
If you look at Gilead's financial statements, you'll see that the average discount went from somewhere around 20% (including mandatory gov't discounts), down to 46%. That means the average price for Harvoni dropped from $75K down to $50K. Almost half of list price.[1]
Interestingly, the average price in the US is now lower than the high end of EU prices.
And people say there is no competition in patented drugs!
[1]http://blogs.wsj.com/pharmalot/2015/02/04/what-the-shocking-...