Gilead Sciences, under siege for the exorbitant price of its breakthrough treatment for the hepatitis C virus (HCV), says it will now provide Sovaldi (sofosbuvir) at a discount for some U.S. health insurance plans, Reuters reports.

The new drug, which is currently listed at a price of $84,000 for a 12-week course of treatment (or about $1,000 a pill), was recently slammed by both medical experts and the U.S. government, who say the cost is far too high for such an easy-to-make pill needed by millions of Americans.

Gilead already provides a 23 percent mandated discount for the drug to U.S. government health plans. Now, the company has agreed to provide additional “supplemental discounts” for government-funded agencies such as the Veterans Administration (VA) and the Department of Defense.

Kaiser Permanente has also secured Sovaldi at a deal for its customers; Gilead, however, has declined to say how much of a discount it’s going to give.

Market analysts say new prescriptions of Sovaldi have declined nearly 5 percent over the past week because of the pricing pushback. Gilead’s shares in the stock market have also dropped 9 percent.

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