The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of the United States has just give the green light to Epclusa, a new drug marketed by the Gilead laboratory, intended to treat patients with chronic hepatitis C virus, with or without cirrhosis.
Epclusa has been approved for use in combination with ribavirin. Epclusa is a fixed dose combination tablet containing sofosbuvir, a drug already approved in 2013, and velpatasvir, a new molecule. It is the first to treat the six main forms of hepatitis C.
Over the past three years, the fight against hepatitis C has seen significant progress but also many debates on the price of drugs, in the United States and in Europe. Sovaldi, also marketed by the Gilead laboratory costs 46,000 euros for a twelve-week treatment, which has prompted many patient associations to claim generic versions of this medication.
This new drug is, for the moment, announced in the United States at a price of 74,760 dollars (approximately 67,000 euros) for the treatment of twelve weeks.
Read also :
Hepatitis C: towards an eradication of the disease?
Hepatitis C: should you get tested?
