Scivillage.com Casual Discussion Science Forum

http://www.medicaldaily.com/hepatitis-c-...ial-332128

EXCERPT: According to the World Health Organization, 130 to 150 million people worldwide suffer from chronic infections of Hepatitis C (HCV), a blood borne virus that primarily attacks the liver and can be spread through needle-sharing, contaminated medical equipment, and less often through sexual relations. These sufferers are especially vulnerable to later liver damage, either through cirrhosis or cancer, and 350,000 to 500,000 people die as a result of these diseases every year. While there are available drug treatments for acute Hepatitis C infection and its hardier chronic version, they vary in effectiveness, accessibility, and tolerance, often needing to be received via injection and coming saddled with side effects. Soon enough however, we might be looking at an entirely new playing field, with two studies in this month’s issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) reporting the extraordinary success of an experimental multi-drug oral therapy for chronic HCV infection, even among those who hadn’t responded to previous treatment....

If there are no serious side effects, it will be worth the high cost.

Quote:(Reuters) - In the race to find a faster cure for hepatitis C, Bristol-Myers Squibb Co said it will test its experimental antiviral drug combination with Gilead Sciences Inc's blockbuster drug Sovaldi, hoping to cut treatment time to four weeks.

 
Bristol-Myers disclosed plans for the exploratory 30-patient trial testing its three-drug combination with Sovaldi in an interview with Reuters. Eric Hughes, the leader of Bristol's global hepatitis program, said the details were due to be posted on the clinicaltrials.gov website next week. 
 
Sovaldi's $84,000 price tag for a 12-week treatment has spurred outrage among insurers, state health officials and lawmakers who fear the cost of treating millions of Americans with the progressive liver disease will top $250 billion. Insurers are pushing Gilead's rivals to offer lower prices when their hepatitis C medicines reach the market. 
 
Using the drug for a shorter course of treatment could, in theory, lower the cost, even when combined with Bristol's therapies. Rivals Merck & Co and AbbVie are also racing to develop next-generation hepatitis C treatments that cure most people of the virus in a shorter time frame.
 
But drug pricing experts expect Gilead and its rivals may still argue that the quicker cure represents a value to patients, buffering any steep price reductions.
 
"The position and concept of pharma is not ingredient costs or duration of treatment cost. Pharma is looking at it as cost per cure," said John Whang, co-president of Reimbursement Intelligence, which works with pharmaceutical companies and payers to help determine prices for medicines.

http://www.natap.org/2014/HCV/062314_03.htm