About 3.5 million people in the United States are infected with chronic Hepatitis C, yet most do not feel ill or know they are infected. Without treatment, people with Hepatitis C will develop "end-stage liver disease" and the only treatment option becomes a liver transplant. Many people die while on the waiting list for a liver transplant, and for those who match with a donated liver, the price for a liver transplant starts around $100,000. In 2007, Gilead, an American biopharmaceutical company, discovered a cure for the disease, Sovaldi (or Sofosbuvir). Gilead set the drug's price at $84,000 per course of treatment ($1,000 per pill).

A.Suppose that people with Hepatitis C taking Sovaldi live on average 2.5 years longer than untreated patients. Calculate the cost per life-year gained.

B.Is Sovaldi cost-effective, based on the value of a statistical life discussed in class?

C.A 2014 New York Times article reports: "A Washington advocacy effort has sprung up overnight, largely devoted to objecting to the cost of this one medication, Sovaldi. Members of Congress have started a joint investigation into how its maker, Gilead Sciences, settled on its price. "Clearly, $1,000 a pill strikes people as completely unreasonable," said John Rother, president of the National Coalition on Health Care, an advocacy group that has been raising an outcry about the drug's price as "unsustainable." Gilead "stepped in it when they decided to go for that cost per pill because people can't imagine why that could be justified."

Do you agree with John Rother? Why or why not?