The Fair Pricing Coalition Expresses Dismay at the Price of Merck's Newly Approved Hepatitis C Drug

On May 13, 2011, the FDA approved Merck's Victrelis (boceprevir), the first new drug for the treatment of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection to come to market in almost ten years. The United States Department of Health and Human Services estimates that there are between 2.7 to 3.9 million people in the United States living with HCV and that approximately 20,000 people are newly infected with HCV every year.

"While this new drug approval is a very exciting development for the HCV community, the Fair Pricing Coalition (FPC) is very disappointed at the price set by Merck for Victrelis," said FPC member Lynda Dee. "The FPC is concerned that the exorbitant wholesale acquisition cost (WAC) of $1,100 per week will adversely affect the ability of people with HCV to access Victrelis and that it will also set an excessively unreasonable future price point for the many HCV drugs in the pipeline. You can bet that no future HCV drugs will be priced less than Victrelis. This is a very bad start."