Pfizer to Nearly Triple Price of COVID-Fighting Medication

Pfizer plans to price a course of its COVID antiviral medication at $1,390 per course of the drug, nearly triple its previous price, according to a Wall Street Journal report.

The New York City-based company is taking Paxlovid to the private market after public funds for the COVID response dried up. The federal government was paying $529 per course of the pills, and then they were available for free to Americans.

“Pricing for Paxlovid is based on the value it provides to patients, providers, and health care systems due to its important role in helping reduce Covid 19-related hospitalizations and deaths,” a Pfizer spokesperson told the Wall Street Journal.

Americans have already reported some trouble obtaining the drugs, with supply drying up at some pharmacies around the country and others passing on it over concerns it could interfere with their medications.

While insurance will cover most of the drugs price for many Americans, experts fear uninsured Americans will be left in a lurch after testing positive for the virus. 

“There’s no doubt that cost is a major factor in determining access to medication in the United States,” Paul Sax, M.D., an infectious disease doctor at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, told CNN this week. “The higher these costs are, the more likely people are to forego treatment.”

There are also fears that the drug entering the private market at such a price could universally push up insurance premiums and deductibles for all Americans.

Similar concerns emerged when Pfizer brought its COVID-19 vaccine to the private market, now charging $129-per-dose to the public after the federal government paid around $20 for each shot.

However, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said this week that 40% of Paxlovid users are on Medicare or Medicaid, and their costs are covered by the government anyways.

The drug is considered the gold standard to treating COVID, and was a primary part of President Biden’s response to the virus early in 2022. In clinical trials, it reduce the likelihood of hospitalization of death from COVId by 86% among high risk individuals.