New cures for hepatitis C — but are they affordable?

New cures for hepatitis C — but are they affordable?

POSTED JANUARY 07, 2016, 8:55 AM
Gregory Curfman, MD, Editor in Chief, Harvard Health Publications

But there’s some very good news: in the last few years, we have witnessed extraordinary progress in developing new drug treatments for hepatitis C. Sofosbuvir (Sovaldi) and sofosbuvir combined with ledipasvir (Harvoni) are two well-known examples of these new drug therapies. Another new combination drug, sofosbuvir and velpatasvir, which was recently described in areport in The New England Journal of Medicine, is extremely effective against most forms of hepatitis C virus and will become the standard therapy when this combination is approved by the FDA. 

But even though the new drugs can cure hepatitis C in many cases, they are not accessible to all people who need them...

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