Hepatitis C treatment for under $300 coming soon

[Remy]

It's about time...$80,000 for a 12 week course of Hep C medication is just ridiculous! I'm glad that they are working on options that are affordable and bring effective treatments to the people that need them most.

Full text here.

The Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi), a not-for-profit organisation, has teamed up with the Egyptian drugmaker Pharco Pharmaceuticals to bring a combination treatment of two hepatitis C tablets, ravidasvir and sofosbuvir, to countries that cannot afford to pay the high prices charged by US drugmakers Gilead, AbbVie and Merck.

Hepatitis C is a blood-borne viral infection that can lead to liver cirrhosis, cancer and death.

Announcing the collaboration at the international liver congress in Barcelona, DNDi said it would conduct clinical studies of the combination treatment, which has already been tested on 300 patients in Egypt with a 100% cure rate, in Malaysia and Thailand, which have different genetic characteristics. It is expected to be available in Egypt within the next 12 months, and elsewhere within 18-24 months.

 

[Who Me?]

MECFS is one hell of a neglected disease.

 

[madie]

I wish they would do this for all the people in this country who don't have $80,000 lying around. Hmmm........maybe online pharmacies will save the day.

 

[Cort]

I wish they would do this for all the people in this country who don't have $80,000 lying around. Hmmm........maybe online pharmacies will save the day.

Yes, indeed...

 

[Cort]

Are they interferons used in treating hcv. Id like to try interferon as i think it could help treat a few infections.

Gotta watch IFN's. They actually cause ME/CFS in many hep c patients. I know of one person who did really well on them and one who was left with a terrible that it took him over a year to get out of.

 

[Remy]

Is the IFN used for hcv different to what is used in MS??

I think so. It looks like the beta interferons are used for MS while HepC uses alpha interferons. I assume there is a good reason for this and it's not just arbitrary but I don't know.