WASHINGTON — Federal health officials have approved a daily pill that can cure the most common form of hepatitis C without the grueling pill-and-injection cocktail long used to treat the virus.
But the drug’s $1,125-per-pill price is sure to increase criticism of drugmaker Gilead Sciences, whose pricing strategy for an older hepatitis drug has already drawn scorn from patient groups, insurers and politicians worldwide.
The Food and Drug Administration said Friday it cleared Gilead’s Harvoni combination pill for patients with genotype 1 of hepatitis C, a form of the liver-destroying virus that accounts for 70 percent of the estimated 3.2 million cases in the U.S.
The new pill combines Gilead’s blockbuster Sovaldi, approved last December, with a new antiviral drug called ledipasvir, which attacks the virus using a different mechanism.
The company says the new drug will cost $94,500 for a 12-week supply. About 40 percent of patients may be able to take the drug for eight weeks, reducing the price to about $63,000.
