High Price Of Specialty Drugs Prompts Backlash

An unusual coalition of patient advocates and health plans, groups often at odds, are calling for greater transparency in drug pricing. They want to know why the drugs cost so much in the United States when in other parts of the world -- including Europe, Canada and Egypt -- Sovaldi and Harvoni are sold for a fraction of the price.

"We feel like there hasn't been a lot of explanation why drugs are priced at this rate," said Nicole Kasabian Evans, vice president for communications at the California Association of Health Plans. "There are about 12 blockbuster drugs set to launch this year, and we think it's important to peel back the onion and get a better understanding of why drugs are priced this way."

Medicines to treat rare conditions, called "orphan drugs," for years have been priced high to recoup the expense of developing a drug for a relatively small number of patients. But until Sovaldi, it was unheard of for a drug aimed at a commonplace disease to cost so much, critics said.

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Brown's Budget Includes Funding for Costly Hepatitis C Treatment

Gov. Jerry Brown's (D) proposed fiscal year 2015-2016 budget allocates about $300 million for high-cost drugs, including expensive medication to treat hepatitis C, Capital Public Radio's "KXJZ News" reports (Bartolone, "KXJZ News," Capital Public Radio, 1/12).

Last week, Brown released his $113.3 billion FY 2015-2016 budget proposal.

According to the budget, Medi-Cal will account for two-thirds of overall health and human services spending in the coming fiscal year. Medi-Cal is California's Medicaid program.

Rena Fox, a physician at UC-San Francisco, applauded the budget proposal for including money to help make hepatitis C treatments available to patients. Fox said, "The cost of the drugs is now making them unattainable for the majority of patients" ("KXJZ News," Capital Public Radio, 1/12).

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