Big Pharma Quietly Enlists Leading Professors to Justify $1,000-Per-Day Drugs
NOVANEWS
By Annie Waldman, ProPublica
To persuade payers and the public, the pharmaceutical industry has deployed a potent new ally. (Photo: Pixabay)
This story was co-published with Consumer Reports.
Over the last three years, pharmaceutical companies have mounted a public relations blitz to tout new cures for the hepatitis C virus and persuade insurers, including government programs such as Medicare and Medicaid, to cover the costs. That isn't an easy sell, because the price of the treatments ranges from $40,000 to $94,000 -- or, because the treatments take three months, as much as $1,000 per day.
To persuade payers and the public, the industry has deployed a potent new ally, a company whose marquee figures are leading economists and health care experts at the nation's top univ...