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New Zealanders with Hepatitis C are turning to generic, legally-imported treatments that cure the virus and give sufferers a new lease on life.
Funded treatment for sufferers was recently made available in New Zealand, but only people with a particular strand of the virus – about half of all sufferers – can access it easily.
Dunedin woman Hazel Heal lived with the virus for 30 years before taking generic medications last year.
She has now been fully cured for six months and said she felt like “a box of birds”.
Ms Heal has genotype 3 Hepatitis C, and was told last year she could fund her own treatment for about $115,000.
She found she could buy the medication she needed through an Australian doctor for a fraction of the price – just a little over $2000 per treatment.
Pharmac’s funding regime was now more widely available in New Zealand, but people who did not qualify were turning to generics.
The medications produced in India and made available through the FixHepC Buyers Club, set up by Tasmanian GP Dr James Freeman, have drastically improved Ms Heal’s – and other New Zealanders’ – quality of life.
Read more….http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/319314/nzers-turn-to-generic-hepatitis-c-meds