Countries Use Novel Strategies to Tackle Price of HCV Drugs
Roxanne Nelson, RN, BSN
February 14, 2019
A recent study suggests that the WHO's goal of eliminating HCV infections worldwide by 2030 is potentially feasible but faces some daunting challenges, including the cost of DAAs.
To help overcome some of the barriers to treatment access, Australia and Brazil are each exploring innovative methods to circumvent the cost. Two perspective articles published February 14 in the New England Journal of Medicine outline how they hope to accomplish this goal.
The healthcare system in Australia is complex but is generally funded by the government. Drugs that are on the national formulary are usually paid for by the government. To help make DAAs more affordable to patients and the healthcare system, the Australian government has rolled out a strategy, nicknamed the "Netflix" plan because it is similar to the movie subscription service, in which payment is for bulk access.
Read more:
https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/909083
New England Journal of Medicine
Perspective
Universal Medicine Access through Lump-Sum Remuneration — Australia’s Approach to Hepatitis C
Suerie Moon, M.P.A., Ph.D., and Elise Erickson, M.A.
High prices can restrict access to medicines in rich and poor countries alike. Australia’s approach to providing direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) for patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV) suggests that, under certain conditions, innovative approaches to payment can remove price as a barrier to access. In Australia, medicines on the national formulary are largely paid for by the government. In 2015, the authorities negotiated an agreement to spend approximately 1 billion Australian dollars (U.S.$766 million) over 5 years in exchange for an unlimited volume of DAAs for HCV from suppliers. This approach has been called the “subscription” or “Netflix” model, and the state of Louisiana announced in January 2019 that it was pursuing a similar approach for HCV. The Australian agreement is confidential, though the basic information above has been publicly reported..
Read more:
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp1813728?query=TOC
New England Journal of Medicine
Brazil’s strategy for addressing hepatitis C, which combines evidence-based treatment protocols and innovative initiatives for local production of generic direct-acting antiviral drugs, needs to be considered in light of ongoing conflicts over pharmaceutical patents.
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