U. S. consumer watchdog Public Citizen on Thursday excoriated Pfizer after the pharmaceutical giant announced it would more than double the price of a lifesaving Covid-19 treatment, which will soon sell for an estimated 100 times the cost of production.
Pfizer said Wednesday that it will price its patented Covid treatment nirmatrelvir-ritonavir—sold under the brand name Paxlovid—at $1,390 for a five-day course. Researchers Melissa J. Barber and Dzintars Gotham recently estimated it costs Pfizer $13 to produce five days’ worth of the drug, which is taken in three-pill doses.
“Pfizer’s new price is an estimated 100 times the cost of production,” Peter Maybarduk, director of Public Citizen’s Access to Medicines program, said in a statement. “Pfizer chose to double its U.S. price just as pandemic funding falters and the precarious winter viral season begins.”…
After the truth-shower 