There’s A Coronavirus Drug That Will Cost Patients $3120, And That’s With Insurance
If you get sick with coronavirus and want an antiviral drug to feel better, get ready to pony up some cash.
Per the New York Post, the coronavirus drug remdesivir will average $3,120 for the typical patient with private health insurance. They explain saying the antiviral drug cost hospitals $520 per dose. So for a common course of treatment, it’s $3120, for a longer duration, the price tag gets up to $5,720.
The drugmaker, Gilead Sciences, does offer a discounted rate to programs like Medicare. That rate would run about $390 a dose, and the total amount per patient would be in-between $2340 and $4290.
Gilead’s chief executive Daniel O’Day states, “This medicine is priced far below the value it brings to health care systems and that’s true for private payers and government payers.” They also point out that remdesivir is expected to reduce hospital costs by $12,000 per patient.
Although the FDA hasn’t approved remdesivir as a treatment, they have granted the drug emergency use authorization. Since then, researchers have found that the drug can speed recovery in patients with COVID-19.