Monday, May 16, 2016

The curious case of generic Hep C drug sofosbuvir

The curious case of generic Hep C drug sofosbuvir
LEENA MENGHANEY

Flip-flop around its patent in India points to need for developing nations to band for tech
For more than a decade, an academic debate has raged among public health experts, the World Health Organization and governments on the capacity, cost effectiveness and the potential benefits of generic drug production in developing countries other than India and China.
Hepatitis C and the revolution in the generic production and supply of new HCV medicines changed all that.
The first approvals by the European Medicines Agency and the US Food and Drug Administration of a new generation of HCV medicines, called direct-acting antivirals (DAAs), started with sofosbuvir in 2013. The US price tag of $84,000 for sofosbuvir and $47,000 in Europe brought to world attention the spiralling cost of patented medicines.

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