Gilead aims to license hepatitis C drug to 3-4 Indian firms
Gilead aims to license hepatitis C drug to 3-4 Indian firms
By Ben Hirschler
(Reuters) - Gilead Sciences aims to license its new
hepatitis C drug Sovaldi to three or four Indian generic
manufacturers to allow sales of the medicine at lower prices in
some 60 developing nations.
Clifford Samuel, head of access operations and emerging
markets at the U.S. drugmaker, told Reuters he expected to have
deals in place shortly with the Indian firms, which would be
able to produce the drug in high volumes and at low margins.
Gilead is under pressure to address the high cost of its
breakthrough pill, which is the first of a new wave of drugs
that have been shown to raise cure rates and cut treatment
duration without the side effects of current injections.
"We're in the midst of discussions right now. We're nailing
down the geographical scope, and we should have these licenses
in place and ready to go in short order," Samuel said on a visit
to London for an international liver conference.
He said Gilead was looking to strike deals with firms that
had proven experience in producing generic versions of its
HIV/AIDS drugs, such as the Indian division of Mylan.
The Foster City, California-based company has been operating
a similar voluntary licensing program for many years for
low-cost HIV drugs, which covers 112 countries.
Under the hepatitis C plan, Indian-made generics would be
available in most of sub-Saharan Africa, selected Asian
countries including India, Pakistan and Myanmar, and some
smaller developing nations.
Gilead is also working to establish "tiered pricing" for
Sovaldi in other low- and middle-income countries, Samuel said.
The company struck the first such tiered pricing deal last
month in Egypt, where it has agreed to supply the government at
just over 1 percent of the U.S. price, or $300 for a 28-day
bottle against $28,000.
For India, the company is currently discussing a price of
$2,000 based on 24 weeks of treatment, although no final deal
has been reached, Samuel added.
Egypt has the world's highest prevalence of the
liver-destroying hepatitis C virus, which is spread through
blood, making it an obvious first market for more affordable,
tiered pricing.
"We're targeting key, high-prevalence countries like India,
Pakistan and Egypt. We are sitting down with them and looking at
differential pricing," Samuel said.
Gilead's tiered pricing will not apply, however, to some
large middle-income countries with significant hepatitis C
populations such as Ukraine and China, which are viewed as
commercial market opportunities.
In the United States, Sovaldi's price tag of $84,000 for a
12-week course of treatment has been described by one health
provider as "outrageous", while U.S. lawmakers have written to
the firm demanding an explanation of the price.
|