Drugmaker Studies Find a Bargain in $84,000 Medicine

While the $84,000 price of Gilead Sciences Inc.’s Sovaldi has riled lawmakers and public health advocates, doctors say this new generation of hepatitis C drugs may actually help cut costs.

In studies presented at the International Liver Congress in London this weekend, drugmakers including Gilead, AbbVie Inc., Merck & Co. and Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. showed that their latest medicines can achieve sustained cure rates approaching 100 percent, rendering obsolete an older generation of products with daunting side effects. That will mean shorter treatment, and fewer follow-up medicines and hospital visits, doctors said.