COVID antiviral Paxlovid to see price increase following 400% vaccine hike

This is the best summary I could come up with:

After raising the price of COVID-19 vaccines more than fourfold this year, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla told investors Monday that the company will also likely hike the price of its lifesaving COVID-19 antiviral treatment, Paxlovid, raising further concern about access and health care costs.

One financial analyst who follows the company, Evercore ISI’s Umer Raffat, told CNN that the price could go up roughly three- to fivefold, to as much as $2,500 per course.

People with Medicare or Medicaid coverage or who are uninsured will still have access to the drug via government patient assistance programs.

Still, several data sources have suggested that Paxlovid has already become underused in treatments recently due to a variety of possible reasons.

Experts expect that the higher price tag for Paxlovid will only erode interest and demand for the protective antiviral treatment further.

"The higher these costs are, the more likely people are to forego treatment," Dr. Paul Sax, clinical director of the Infectious Disease Clinic at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, told CNN.

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