Tuesday, November 29, 2016

DAA treatment restricted for Canadian hepatitis C patients

DAA treatment restricted for Canadian hepatitis C patients
By Mark L. Fuerst

Patients infected by hepatitis C virus (HCV) in Canada have limited access to direct-acting antiviral (DAA) agents, according to a new study.

“There are many new DAAs, marketed by different pharmaceutical companies. We studied reimbursement practices for simeprevir, sofosbuvir, ledipasvir-sofosbuvir and paritaprevir-ritonavir-ombitasvir plus dasabuvir.

We found that 85% to 92% of the provinces and territories in Canada restrict access to these medications to persons with moderate fibrosis,” lead author Alison Marshall from the Kirby Institute at the University of New South Wales—Australia, told Medical Economics.

Marshall and colleagues reviewed the reimbursement criteria for those DAAs in Canada’s 10 provinces and three territories. Although Canada's 10 provinces and three territories are collectively governed by the Canada Health Act, every jurisdiction administers its own health plan.

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