The founder of the company that discovered the Sovaldi hepatitis C drug, which has been listed with a
cost of $1,000 for a single pill, says that it’s fairly cheap to make the basic ingredients for this well-regarded new medicine. It may cost only about $1,400 to manufacture a 12-week supply, or 84 pills, of the key ingredient in Sovaldi, excluding the costs of manufacturing plants, solvents, formulation, encapsulating and marketing.