Since brand-name Truvada was approved for HIV prevention six years ago, its average wholesale price has increased by about 45 percent. Now, the drug – which rakes in billions of dollars in annual global revenue for its manufacturer, Gilead Sciences – carries a list price of close to $2,000 for a 30-day supply.
Most insurers cover the pill, also known as pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP. It has been shown to be more than 90 percent effective in HIV prevention when taken daily.
But patients can get stuck with out-of-pocket costs that make it unaffordable.
“If there is any example of the dysfunction in the American pharmaceutical system, it is this case,” said James Krellenstein, a member of the AIDS advocacy group ACT UP New York. “We have the most effective tool for ending the HIV epidemic, and one reason we’re unable to scale up is because it costs so [much] unnecessarily.”
As policymakers and the health system debate how to control ever-climbing drug prices, experts say this case underscores how patients are left holding the bag.
Private health plans are making patients responsible for a larger share of drug costs. And more are restricting use of the “copay coupons” pharmaceutical companies have used to shield patients from out-of-pocket expenses. Insurers say the drug companies use coupons to steer consumers toward pricier meds. One way health plans are limiting their use is by no longer allowing them to count toward patients’ deductibles.
“This is one more thing that is going to push people off their medications,” said Jim Pickett, a senior director at the AIDS Foundation of Chicago.
Jared Wile, who lives in Chicago, started taking PrEP about three years ago, when he was dating someone with HIV. Wile, who has a $2,750 deductible, used a coupon to obtain the drug. He never paid anything out-of-pocket, he said.
Gilead waives up to $4,800 in out-of-pocket expenses for commercially insured patients.
That changed for Wile this past May, when Wile learned the coupon no longer counted toward his deductible and that he would have to pay the full cost of the prescription – $1,600 per month – until he hit his deductible. Wile said he felt “blindsided” and stopped taking the medication.
Gilead spokesman Ryan McKeel said the company has made extra efforts to help patients overcome financial barriers. He cited assistance programs for uninsured and underinsured people.
“We have designed our assistance programs with the intent that people can benefit from their full value, and we cannot control the actions or decisions of health insurers,” McKeel said in an emailed statement.
The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that more than 1 million people are at high risk of contracting HIV, but Gilead says only about 167,000 people currently take PrEP.