...but still less than the cost of treating long-term Hep-C with all of the attendant health problems and costs, so in the long run, these uber-expensive drugs were better deals for the insurance companies and payors.

Luckily, the two drugs came out around the same time, so the PBMs were able to pit the two drug makers against each other and extract very steep rebates from each, lowering the cost significantly.

Cancer would almost certainly be similar. The cost of treating cancer with current drugs and methods is already astronomical, and accounts for a huge portion of overall drug and hospital expenses. Drug companies could charge a huge fortune and still have very little problem getting on insurance company formularies because it'd still be cheaper.