Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33011345›Full record

ReviewDrug discovery today2021

Public funding for transformative drugs: the case of sofosbuvir.

Rachel E Barenie, Jerry Avorn, Frazer A Tessema, Aaron S Kesselheim

Abstract readReview
In one paragraph

Review in Drug discovery today, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
6citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

6 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Citizens' views on prices of medicines reimbursed by the National Health Service: Findings from Italian online focus groups.Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy · 2024
    Article
  5. Article
  6. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Rachel E BarenieProgram On Regulation, Therapeutics, And Law (PORTAL), Division of Pharmacoepidemiology and Pharmacoeconomics, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, 1620 Tremont St, Suite 3030, Boston, MA 02120, USA. Electronic address: rbarenie@bwh.harvard.edu.
Jerry AvornProgram On Regulation, Therapeutics, And Law (PORTAL), Division of Pharmacoepidemiology and Pharmacoeconomics, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, 1620 Tremont St, Suite 3030, Boston, MA 02120, USA.
Frazer A TessemaProgram On Regulation, Therapeutics, And Law (PORTAL), Division of Pharmacoepidemiology and Pharmacoeconomics, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, 1620 Tremont St, Suite 3030, Boston, MA 02120, USA.
Aaron S KesselheimProgram On Regulation, Therapeutics, And Law (PORTAL), Division of Pharmacoepidemiology and Pharmacoeconomics, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, 1620 Tremont St, Suite 3030, Boston, MA 02120, USA.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The approval of sofosbuvir (Sovaldi) in 2013 transformed chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) care, but its high cost was criticized in part because of reports of substantial public involvement in its development. We developed a methodology to assess the public's contribution through the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in developing sofosbuvir. Using key terms from the timeline of sofosbuvir, we identified articles in PubMed; linked them to federal funding using the NIH RePORTER; reviewed the title, organization, and investigator of each resulting award for relatedness; and converted related awards to 2018 US dollars. Of 6043 unique awards, we identified 29 that were directly (US$7.7 million) and 110 that were indirectly (US$53.2 million) related awards made to major academic institutions and companies engaged in the development of the drug. These findings indicate that public funding had a key role in developing sofosbuvir, with an estimated US$60.9 million provided in NIH funding.

Indexed as

Drug DevelopmentFinancing, GovernmentAntiviral AgentsDrug CostsHepatitis C, ChronicHumansNational Institutes of Health (U.S.)SofosbuvirUnited StatesAntiviral AgentsSofosbuvir

Identifiers

PMID33011345
PMCPMC7528745

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.