Express Scripts Holding Co. (ESRX)<\/a>, which helps insurers and large employers provide drug coverage, opted to narrow doctors\u2019 treatment options in exchange for lower prices. On its most widely used list of approved drugs, Express Scripts will include AbbVie\u2019s Viekira Pak for patients with genotype 1, the nation\u2019s most common form of hepatitis C.<\/p>\n Express Scripts has waged a campaign all year against Gilead\u2019s hepatitis C drugs, calling their cost of more than $1,000 a pill part of an unsustainable trend of surging prices for medicine designed to treat complex health conditions. Gilead\u2019s Sovaldi and Harvoni will be left off Express Scripts\u2019 list, which covers about 25 million people, starting Jan. 1 for most patients.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have asked pharma companies to work with us closer and demonstrate good judgment,\u201d Express Scripts Chief Medical Officer Steve Miller said. \u201cAbbVie heard our concerns and they came to the table in a very creative way.\u201d<\/p>\n Gilead\u2019s Sovaldi costs $84,000 for a 12-week course of treatment, and the company\u2019s Harvoni, which combined Sovaldi with another medication in a single pill, costs $94,500. Viekira Pak, approved last week by the Food and Drug Administration, sells for $83,319 before any negotiated discount. AbbVie offered a \u201csignificant discount\u201d in exchange for exclusivity, Miller said.<\/p>\n The FDA’s press release on approving Viekira Pak seems to indicate the the ABBV’s drug is as effective as Gilead’s miracle hepatitis C drugs and hence ESRX and its doctors are simply opting for a cheaper price. If they’re wrong, they’ll be sued up the whazoo. They must be pretty confident. I’m not optimistic for GILD. Read the FDA’s release here.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Gilead today and yesterday:<\/p>\n I’m officially on “vacation with the kids and grandkids. But I did want to update you on the Gilead news.<\/p>\n If you haven’t seen my Lessons for Investors from 2014<\/strong> in Friday’s column, please go here.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0Holiday “thoughts”<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n A couple were Christmas shopping.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n The shopping center was packed , and as the wife walked through one of the malls she was surprised when she looked around to find that her husband was nowhere to be seen.<\/p>\n She was quite upset because they had a lot to do and hence, she became so worried that she called him on her mobile phone to ask him where he was.<\/p>\n In a quiet voice he said, “Do you remember the jewellers we went into about five years ago where you fell in love with that diamond necklace that we couldn’t afford, and I told you that I would get it for you one day?”<\/p>\n The wife choked up and started to cry and said, “Yes, I do remember that shop.”<\/p>\n He replied, “Well, I’m in the pub next door.”<\/p>\n![\"GileadTwoDays\"](\"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/GileadTwoDays.jpg\")
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