STAT Plus: Novartis to provide drugs for Covid-19 patients at no cost, but fails to disclose pricing
As companies face pressure to ensure access to medicines during the pandemic, Novartis (NVS) plans to sell more than a dozen older drugs at cost to dozens of mostly poor countries, a move that was met with mixed reaction from consumer advocates because pricing was not disclosed.
The drug maker is creating a nonprofit to sell 15 generic and over-the-counter medicines that treat various symptoms of Covid-19 to low-income and lower-middle-income countries. Among the medicine are several antibiotics as well as dexamethasone, a steroid that recent top-line study data suggests the steroid may improve the odds of survival in the sickest Covid-19 patients.
