Health and Healthcare

Gilead Moves Forward With Pricing Its COVID-19 Treatment

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Gilead Sciences Inc. (NASDAQ: GILD) took another big step Monday in the fight against COVID-19 its treatment, remdesivir. Compared to previous blockbuster drugs from Gilead (such as its hepatitis C treatment), the price on this one is fairly cheap.

Gilead priced its COVID-19 drug candidate at $2,340 for a five-day treatment in the United States and some other developed countries. The company set the price for a single vial at $390.

For U.S. private insurance companies, the price will be $520 per vial. The total for a treatment course using six vials of remdesivir could come out to $3,120 per patient.

It’s worth pointing out that this is below the $5,080 per treatment course that the U.S. drug pricing research group, the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review, recommended last week.

Gilead also has entered into an agreement with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. As per the agreement, the agency will help manage the allocation of the treatment to hospitals until the end of September.

So far, the agency has secured more than 500,000 treatment courses of the drug for American hospitals through the end of September. All these treatment courses represent 100% of Gilead’s projected production for July, and 90% of production in August and September, in addition to clinical trials.

Note that remdesivir has not been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for any use. In the United States, the FDA granted remdesivir an Emergency Use Authorization for the treatment of hospitalized patients with severe COVID-19.

Gilead stock traded up over 2% Monday morning to $76.13, in a 52-week range of $60.89 to $85.97. The consensus price target is $80.58.

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