BIO Statement on Hepatitis C Medicines Report from Senators Grassley and Wyden

Washington, D.C. (December 1, 2015) – The following statement regarding the report released today by Senators Grassley and Wyden may be attributed to BIO Senior Vice President of Communications Kenneth Lisaius:

“We currently are reviewing the full report and generally do not comment on product pricing by member companies.  That said, we believe that any balanced debate about the cost of groundbreaking cures like these new Hepatitis C medicines cannot focus narrowly on their price, but also must acknowledge the tremendous value they provide to patients and the overall healthcare system. Next-generation Hepatitis C drugs are making a real difference in patients’ lives, with cure rates of up to 99 percent for this seriously debilitating disease. Curing Hepatitis C also averts the need for more costly treatments down the road, such as liver transplants which can often cost $500,000 for a single patient.  A 2013 paper in Hepatology estimated average lifetime treatment costs (including medical inflation) for uncured Hepatitis C at over $200,000 per patient. Many independent evaluations of the value of these drugs, including a recently released JAMA study which found that Harvoni was cost-effective across all ranges of disease severity, have concluded that these medicines offer a good value for the cost.  BIO welcomes a discussion about the true value of biopharmaceutical innovation.”