Gilead's remdesivir will cost $3,120 for patients with private insurance

Gilead's remdesivir will cost $3,120 for patients with private insurance
June 29, 2020 / 11:36 AM / CBS/AP
Gilead Sciences disclosed its pricing for the COVID-19 treatment remdesivir, saying it will charge $3,120 for patients with private health insurance. Patients who are covered by government programs like Medicaid will be charged $2,340 for a typical treatment course.


The amount that patients pay out of pocket depends on insurance, income and other factors. "We're in uncharted territory with pricing a new medicine, a novel medicine, in a pandemic," Gilead CEO Dan O'Day said in a statement announcing the pricing for remdesivir.

Remdesivir (pronounced rem-des-eh-veer) is an antiviral medication originally developed to treat Ebola and other deadly viruses. After an international COVID-19 drug trial showed that the medication helped some patients recover more quickly, the Food and Drug Administration gave the remdesivir authorization for emergency use in treating coronavirus cases. Gilead is charging two prices for the drug in just one developed country: The U.S., according to The Wall Street Journal.

"We believe that we had to really deviate from the normal circumstances" and price the drug to ensure wide access rather than based solely on value to patients, O'Day said.

The Department of Health and Human Services said Monday it has allocated 500,000 treatment courses through September, which will be directed to hospitals based on the numbers of their COVID-19 patients, according to a senior HHS official on a conference call with press. The agency secured access to the drug because it believes the drug will become a "scarce resource" and wanted to distribute it fairly to patients in U.S. hospitals, the official said.

It's unclear what might happen in October, when the agreement between Gilead and the HHS ends, with the official noting that the agency will monitor new therapeutics for treating the disease. The federal government doesn't plan to stockpile the drug, but will use data on patients with COVID-19 and allocate remdesivir based on that information, the official said.

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https://www.cbsnews.com/news/gilead-sciences-remdesivir-coronavirus-treatment-private-insurance-cost/