VIDEO: Cost to treat HCV could be as low as $80 in the US

BOSTON — In this exclusive video at The Liver Meeting, Andrew M. Hill, PhD, discusses data from a new study that show the price of a direct-acting antiviral generic regimen could be as low as $80 in the U.S. to cure hepatitis C virus infection in one patient.

“The potential to lower prices and treat far more people is enormous,” Hill said.

Hill and colleagues extracted data from an online database of Indian export ledgers for per-kilogram prices and volumes of direct-acting antiviral API’s exported from India between January and June 2016.

“We found these drugs are being exported from India as raw materials for very low prices,” Hill said.

Sovaldi (sofosbuvir, Gilead Sciences) export volumes from India were 10,200 kg — equivalent to 303,000 12-week treatment courses; Daklinza (daclatasvir, Bristol-Myers Squibb) volumes were 5,433 kg — equivalent to 1,080,000 treatment courses; and ledipasvir (Gilead Sciences) volumes were 240 kg — equivalent to 32,000 treatment courses.

Hill said these volumes and prices could enable Sovaldi (sofosbuvir, Gilead Sciences) to be manufactured for $62 for 12 weeks and daclatasvir for $16 for 12 weeks, leading the combined cost to treat to cure HCV lowering under $80 per person.

“This is far lower than the current retail prices of the drugs in the U.S. a 12-week course of treatment for hepatitis C is around $80,000 … it’s a thousand times the cost of production,” Hill said, noting that it would cost $10 billion currently worldwide to treat everyone.

Disclosure: Hill reports no relevant financial disclosures.