Rolling out hepatitis C treatments will be costly | Editorial

Invaluable treatment proving pricey
The Pharmaceutical Journal, 5 FEB 2015

The new generation of heptatitis C antivirals is highly effective, but the drugs’ expense will put pressure on healthcare providers.

New hepatitis C drugs are game changers for treating the chronic viral infection, which was previously very difficult to manage. With cure rates in excess of 90% and improved tolerability, the latest treatments offer new hope for people chronically infected with the virus — an estimated 185 million people worldwide. But the sheer number of people who require these new expensive medicines is putting financial pressure on public and private healthcare providers and leaving patients with an anxious wait to find out if they qualify for treatment.

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Citation: The Pharmaceutical Journal, 7 February 2015, Vol 294, No 7848, online | URI: 20067781