The Act Up association organized a demonstration during a symposium on HIV. Participants protest against the price of sofosbuvir, the new treatment for hepatitis C.
Rant at 7e French-speaking conference on AIDS (AFRAVIH 2014). Act Up organized this April 29 a happening on the occasion of the Gilead group conference. The association protests against the price of the new treatment for hepatitis C, Sovaldi (sofosbuvir), which should soon be on the market.
Forty activists voiced their dissatisfaction. According to France 3 Languedoc-Roussillon, they waved signs comparing the standard of living in several countries and the cost of sofosbuvir, before lying on the floor. It must be said that the cost of Sovaldi has sparked controversy. The drug is considered a major breakthrough by the medical world: it acts on a broader spectrum of the virus responsible for hepatitis C, eliminates the majority of side effects. Its effectiveness is also clearly higher: the success of the therapies is 100% in 3 months, against 50% for 6 months of treatment previously.
But the cost of sofosbuvir immediately excludes a large proportion of patients. In the United States, a single tablet reaches $ 1,000 … while its production costs only $ 136 maximum. A 12-week treatment will cost $ 84,000 (€ 60,000). Gilead had clarified that the costs would vary depending on the income level of countries. In a middle-income country, where 3 months of treatment costs $ 2,000, the majority of patients cannot access it, then lamented Médecins du Monde.
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