The Food and Drug Administration approved the combination pill Epclusa, from Gilead Sciences, for patients with and without liver damage. The new drug's broad indication could make it easier to use than five other hepatitis drugs recently approved by the FDA, which are each tailored to different viral strains or stages of liver disease.
Gilead's previous two hepatitis drugs have raked in billions of dollars by replacing an older, less effective treatment. The company said Epclusa will cost $74,760 for a 12-week course of treatment, or roughly $890 a pill. That's less than the initial price for company's previous drug, Harvoni, which cost $1,125 a pill. Gilead's first hepatitis C drug, Sovaldi, cost roughly $1,000 per pill, touching off a national debate about drug costs.
Since 2014, the FDA has approved rival medications that have helped curb prices. Hepatitis C affects at least 2.7 million people in the U.S. and caused more than 19,000 deaths in 2014, according to federal estimates