| The world is sitting on the edge of its seat, waiting for new Covid-19 vaccines and treatments. But questions about how much they will cost loom large, especially in the U.S., which has plowed billions into their development, and lacks a recent precedent for this kind of public-health crisis. The subject is still largely theoretical: There are more than 140 experimental shots still in development, but even those closest to the finish line don't yet have public price tags. Some companies, like Johnson & Johnson, have committed to not take a profit amid a pandemic. How they'll actually calculate a cost based on their risky investments into R&D and manufacturing remains to be seen. Closer on the horizon is Gilead Sciences' remdesivir. Although it is already being used to treat hospitalized patients with Covid-19 under an emergency authorization, remdesivir also doesn't yet have a list price. ICER, an independent nonprofit that conducts analyses on new medications, estimates it could cost either $10 for a 10-day course of treatment, if Gilead were just looking to cover manufacturing costs, or up to $4,500, reflecting the drug's benefit to patients more broadly.  One vial of the drug Remdesivir. Photographer: ULRICH PERREY/AFP That drastic range is a part of why U.S. drug pricing has been a long-running controversy: There's no political or societal consensus on what's a fair price. Drugmakers argue that they should be compensated not just for the cost of developing a treatment but also the risk they take on when therapeutics fail and the value that medications bring to the health-care system writ large. Gilead disputes the idea that manufacturing remdesivir, "which relies on raw materials sourced from around the world, involves multiple chemical reactions and requires sterile manufacturing facilities" comes to just $10, it said in a statement. Gilead did not provide additional details on how it will ultimately determine the price. Investors, guessing that the price will err toward the farther end of that spectrum, suggest Gilead stands to make more than $2 billion in sales from the drug in 2021. During a conference earlier this month, Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in the National Institutes of Health, said drugmakers must be able to make "some degree of profit" on their medicines -- innovation certainly isn't free. But Fauci says the government must trust that industry will act in good faith, or medicines will be inaccessible to those who need them. - Riley Griffin and Emma Court The American public, however, doesn't share his trust. Nine in 10 U.S. adults say they are "very" or "somewhat" concerned that the industry will leverage the pandemic to raise prices. With the spotlight on the industry shining brighter than ever, will drugmakers, governments and patients finally reach a consensus on what's "fair?"--Riley Griffin and Emma Court | 
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