Dive Brief:
- AbbVie has successfully negotiated with the ADAP Crisis Task Force to provide its hep C treatment at discounted prices through state programs that serve more than 150,000 HIV/AIDS patients.
- Gilead declined to negotiate with the ADAP Crisis Task Force for a similar deal.
- An estimated 30% of people with HIV are also infected with hepatitis C.
Dive Insight:
AbbVie's deal with the ADAP Crisis Task Force is part of a larger bargaining process that is taking place between both Gilead and AbbVie and various insurers and pharmacy benefit managers. The goal is to gain preference on formularies by negotiating discounts.
While the initial response to Gilead's $1000-a-day price tag for Sovaldi (sofosbuvir) and AbbVie's hep C drug was one of outrage over the high prices, that reaction has now given way to a more pragmatic approach to negotiating prices on a large scale—one that foretells a paradigm shift for pharma and the power of the payer.