The pricing strategy for Gilead’s COVID-19 treatment, Remdesivir, is out finally.
The pricing strategy for Gilead’s first effective coronavirus treatment is out, and the biotech giant is charging up to $520 a vial for remdesivir.
Gilead Sciences has set a price for the treatment two months after proving its experimental antiviral drug helped coronavirus patients recover faster.
On Monday, Gilead CEO Daniel O’Day wrote in an open letter that for a five-day treatment course of remdesivir, the company will charge governments of developed countries $2,340. American private insurers will be charged 33% more or $520 per vial, while the US government will also pay that price. That equates to $5,720 for a 10-day duration or $3,120 for a five-day course.
As Gilead shifts from donating the drug to selling it, Wall Street analysts and investors widely anticipated the pricing announcement. This year, Gilead would make $2.3 billion, translating to about $1 billion in profit according to the estimation by Brian Abrahams, RBC Capital Markets analyst. In early trading on Monday, Gilead’s stock gained about 2.7%.
According to a clinical trial conducted by the US National Institutes of Health, remdesivir helped hospitalized COVID-19 patients recover 31% faster than a placebo group. On May 1, this drug was approved for emergency use by the US regulators based on that result.
A treatment benefit against the coronavirus was first demonstrated by this drug. However, a cheap generic steroid, dexamethasone is found to reduce the chances of dying for critically ill patients requiring ventilators, in a recent UK-based trial. The Department of Health and Human Services said that over the next three months, the US government has also secured more than 500,000 treatment courses. The last of its supply of donated remdesivir is expected to ship out on Monday.
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Gilead’s Remdesivir Pricing Revealed
The pricing strategy for Gilead’s COVID-19 treatment, Remdesivir, is out finally.
