Gilead, maker of $84,000 Hepatitis C drug, avoided $10 billion in taxes, report says

[LeftyMom]

3. Again, to put the price of that drug into some perspective:

It had zero competition for about a year before a similar drug that does the same thing came to market.

Untreated Hep C is the leading cause of liver cancer in the developed world.

The cost of a liver transplant is about a quarter mil, and post-transplant drugs can be anywhere from $4 plan to $100K/yr and you have no advance idea of which ones and in what combination are going to work for you particularly. People die waiting for livers. Fixing a liver soon enough to keep somebody in the factory equipment saves their life and potentially the life of somebody behind them on the transplant list.

It's literally cheaper than the alternatives.