On the occasion of World Hepatitis Day, launched at the initiative of the World Health Organization (WHO) to raise awareness of the disease, the non-governmental organization Doctors of the World denounce again the exorbitant price of treatments against hepatitis C and denounces the rationing imposed on patients.
“In Western Europe, 13 out of 17 countries have implemented restriction policies limiting access to direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) to the sickest people. The main reason for this selection is the high price of the treatment, because the cost of DAA combinations is between 25,000 and 70,000 Euros Even the United States has adopted rationing policies while the hepatitis C virus claims more victims there than any other other infectious disease” emphasizes the NGO.
Lower prices through generic competition
Doctors of the World, like other patient associations, therefore calls on the French government to adopt a method hitherto unprecedented in France, “the official licence”, in order to authorize generic manufacturers to produce antivirals directly at low cost.
“As with HIV treatments, the establishment of generic competition is a key element to drastically reduce the price of treatments and allow wider access. In 13 countries, we have been able to establish that the price average price of sofosbuvir (Sovaldi from Gilead) is $38,154 when there is no generic competition. In comparison, the average price of sofosbuvir in its generic version is $2,023 in the 5 countries where it is available”.
It should be noted that to make the disease better known, Médecins du Monde and the Treatment Action Group (TAG – Treatment Action Group) have developed an innovative tool called mapCrowd.org to measure the status of access to diagnostics and Hepatitis C treatments in the world. The objective will be to collect and share real-time data on the hepatitis C virus.
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Hepatitis C: towards the treatment of all patients?
Hepatitis C: should you get tested?
