Your insurance benefit saved you $4000

[rawfuckr]

Actually:

Your insurance benefit saved you $3997.65

Retail Price: $4012.65 Your Price: $15

Kaiser has now switched my Truvada PrEP prescription to 90 day supplies (yay!) but I'm still baffled at the cost of this. I'm very fortunate to have great insurance and I only have to pay $5 per month but still seems Gilead is going to make tons of money if PrEP becomes popular. At the end of the day we all pay this stuff with our premiums. Maybe Gilead will lower the price now that there are more 'customers' for Truvada?

[BestCatcher]

Maybe Gilead will lower the price now that there are more 'customers' for Truvada?

Ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!! That's funny!!

[GermanFucker]

Maybe Gilead will lower the price now that there are more 'customers' for Truvada?

Why do you think Gilead is suddenly pushing PreP and lobbying governments to support it? Two words: PATENT EXPIRATION. The majority of patents for the most popular HIV drugs will expire over the next 5 years (might be a bit longer in the US, where manufacturers often get extensions), meaning that competition from generics will definitely drive down prices. Gilead is just trying to create a new revenue stream, i.e. to compensate shrinking margins by marketing to a wider audience.

To illustrate the effects of generics, here a more or less verbatim rendition of a chat I recently had on a bareback platform.

Guy X: "Hey, interested in generic viagra? Only 3 euros per pill."

Me: "Ooooooookay, these are 100mg pills?"

Guy X: "Yeah, 100mg is the standard."

Me: "Not that I need them, but why would I pay 3 euros if I can get them at the local pharmacy for 2 euros a pop?"

[Poz1956]

Also if your insurer requires that you get Truvada from a specific pharmacy, it is likely your insurer is paying way less than the retail price.

[rawfuckr]

Also if your insurer requires that you get Truvada from a specific pharmacy, it is likely your insurer is paying way less than the retail price.

I was wondering about this. I must use Kaiser pharmacy and you can't go to walgreens or CVS. Kaiser claims they pay $1338 for a bottle of Truvada (30 pills) which is right in line with what other pharmacies are quoting. Anyway, I'll take it because I don't have to pay anything, but the whole thing still seems like a racket and there should be a better way to do drug pricing.