Another state has signed on to a “Netflix” style payment model for hepatitis C drugs.
Washington state now joins Louisiana in paying a flat rate for “cheap” access to the drugs. It has agreed to give AbbVie some $321 million to treat about 30,000 patients with its glecaprevir/pibrentasvir combo pill (Mavyret) over four years.
Louisiana previously contracted to pay Gilead Sciences $58 million a year for 5 years to provide an unlimited amount of its similar product sofosbuvir/velpatasvir (Epclusa).
An estimated 3 million people in the U.S. live with hepatitis C, may or may not know they are infected. Drugs that are currently available in the market from manufacturing giants like AbbVie and Gilead are a cure for hepatitis C in just eight weeks of treatment. But these medicines are too expensive.
Subscription-based payment models for drugs is a new concept as payers look for innovative ways to lower costs.
AbbVie's package includes money for outreach and testing to identify patients coming in the form of a tour bus wrapped with advertising to “Get Tested, Get Answers. Take on Hep C.”
The “Netflix” payment model was originally conceived by well-known drug pricing critic Peter Bach, MD, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in the New York City. Hep C drug makers have been willing to ink deals like this in the face of a shrinking market.
Alan Carr, a biotech analyst says that more patients are treated and cured with the drugs, which have been available for several years now. Thus, companies are on the look out for a way to ensure that remaining patients use their drugs.
Merck and Gilead were beaten by AbbVie in the bidding process for Washington state’s business.