U.S. lawmakers want Gilead to explain Sovaldi's hefty price

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U.S. lawmakers want Gilead to explain Sovaldi's hefty price

U.S. lawmakers have asked Gilead Sciences Inc to explain the $84,000 price tag of its new hepatitis C drug Sovaldi, which is encountering resistance from health insurers and state Medicaid programs. The news pushed shares of Gilead down as much as 6 percent on Friday and sparked a sell-off among other leading biotech names on concerns they may have a harder time pricing new medicines. Biogen Idec fell 8 percent, Amgen Inc dropped 3 percent and Celgene Corp lost 3.7 percent. Some health insurers, including the government's Medicaid program for the poor, are holding off on authorizing use of Gilead's new hepatitis C drug.

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