Interesting that you mention that.  Shortly after Gilead launched Harvoni, Abbvie (Abbott&#x27;s spun out drug unit), launched their HCV drug (Viekira Pak).<p>Abbvie decided to compete on price and immediately locked in a couple very large insurance companies.  Basically, they offered a discount and the insurance company&#x2F;PBM (Express Scripts) agreed to lock out the Gilead drugs.<p>This caused Gilead to have a bit of a fit, so they offered a competitive discount and locked in the remaining insurers.<p>If you look at Gilead&#x27;s financial statements, you&#x27;ll see that the average discount went from somewhere around 20% (including mandatory gov&#x27;t discounts), down to 46%.  That means the average price for Harvoni dropped from $75K down to $50K.  Almost half of list price.[1]<p>Interestingly, the average price in the US is now lower than the high end of EU prices.<p>And people say there is no competition in patented drugs!<p>[1]<a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;blogs.wsj.com&#x2F;pharmalot&#x2F;2015&#x2F;02&#x2F;04&#x2F;what-the-shocking-gilead-discounts-on-its-hepatitis-c-drugs-will-mean&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;blogs.wsj.com&#x2F;pharmalot&#x2F;2015&#x2F;02&#x2F;04&#x2F;what-the-shocking-...</a>