Senate Report: Gilead Put Profits Over Patients With $1,000 for Hepatitis Pills

A company that makes two of the priciest drugs on the market was looking to make profits and didn't care if patients could afford them, a Senate committee said Tuesday, NBC News reported.

Gilead's $1,000-a-pill Sovaldi, which can cure hepatitis, has cost the federal government billions and is too expensive for many patients to afford, the Senate Finance Committee said in a report.

"Gilead pursued a calculated scheme for pricing and marketing its Hepatitis C drug based on one primary goal, maximizing revenue, regardless of the human consequences," Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden, a Democrat, said in a statement.

Sovaldi costs about $84,000 for a weeks-long regimen aimed at eradicating the liver-destroying virus.

Gilead said it cooperated with the investigation and defended its pricing of the drugs. "We respectfully disagree with the conclusions of their report," the company said in a statement.

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