Public Funding for Transformative Drugs: The Case of Sofosbuvir

The authors identified approximately $60.9 million in NIH funding that directly or indirectly supported the development of sofosbuvir (Sovaldi), with $7.7 million in direct awards and $53.2 million in indirect awards to academic institutions and companies involved in the drug’s creation. These findings demonstrate the key role of public funding in enabling this transformative hepatitis C treatment and the need for affordable access to government-supported therapeutics.