Health ministry approves new hepatitis C drug under insurance scheme
Kyodo
Aug 27, 2015
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A health ministry panel has added a new highly effective, but expensive, hepatitis C virus drug to the national health insurance scheme, giving high hopes for patients who have had to endure painful interferon injections.
The tablet drug Harvoni, developed by U.S.-based Gilead Sciences Inc., is expected to revolutionize the treatment of patients with hepatitis C genotype 1, which accounts for about 70 percent of all hepatitis C patients in Japan.
A daily dose of one pill set at ¥80,171 will starting Monday be covered by the insurance, limiting the patient cost to about ¥20,000 a month.
The decision was made at a meeting of The Central Social Insurance Medical Council on Wednesday.
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