Gilead faces antitrust blowback from Brazil

It’s not just in the U.S. where public debate has heated up over drug pricing. Advocacy groups in Brazil are compelling the country’s antitrust regulators to fine Gilead — contending that it’s charging “abusive” prices for its hepatitis C medicines.

The groups, STAT’s Ed Silverman writes, argue that Gilead’s “unlawful conduct … clearly affects the public interest.” That’s because the prices Gilead is charging has caused the Brazilian government to ration its stores of Sovaldi — allegedly contributing to nearly 6,000 deaths from the disease between 2015 and 2017.

“We have a history of deaths, rationed distributions and waiting lines for a medicine that can cure the disease,” one of the advocacy groups said.