As excitement mounts among physicians and investors over a new crop of drugs for treating hepatitis C, there is also concern that patients in developing countries may not have sufficient access due to high prices. But a recent poster presentation at a medical conference suggests that drugmakers can produce these new medicines for relatively little cost and should be compelled to do so.
The analysis, which was displayed at the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases gathering last week in Washington, DC, concluded that large-scale production of direct acting antivirals may be possible for as little as $100 to $200 for 12 weeks of treatment. The estimate cited HIV drugs, which initially cost tens of thousands of dollar per patient but have since dropped in price, as a framework.
This group of drugs includes sofosbuvir, which is made by Gilead Sciences and was unanimously endorsed by an FDA panel last month. The treatment offers a higher cure rate with less toxicity and a shorter duration for treatment than a pair of medicines approved two years ago, which explains the enthusiasm on Wall Street, where pricing is expected to be $80,000 to $90,000 per patient in the US.
Ed Silverman
Pharmalot
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