US needs price controls for COVID-19 drugs, employer advocacy group says

The Employers’ Prescription for Affordable Drugs said Medicare should determine fair prices for COVID-19 drugs and vaccines and pointed to Gilead’s remdesivir as an example of an overpriced drug. The FDA approved remdesivir as a COVID-19 treatment in October. The drug costs private health plans more than $3,00 per treatment course, Bloomberg reported.

From the article:

“The U.S. government should set prices for coronavirus vaccines and therapies to prevent gouging, a coalition of companies and other employers said.

Medicare, the health program serving older Americans, should determine fair prices for Covid-19 drugs and inoculations that would also be paid by companies, organizations and individuals, Employers’ Prescription for Affordable Drugs said in a statement. The group cited Gilead Sciences Inc.’s remdesivir antiviral as an example of an overpriced therapy.

Employers are growing increasingly uneasy about their share of the treatment costs for rising numbers of patients with Covid-19, more than 90,000 of whom are now hospitalized in the U.S. alone. Remdesivir, one of the few coronavirus treatments, costs private health plans more than $3,000 per treatment course, the group said. The World Health Organization has said there’s no evidence the drug reduces patient deaths.”

Read the full article form Bloomberg here