Taiwan: Oral hepatitis C treatment closer to full NHI coverage

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TAIPEI, Taiwan — The government has taken a major step toward implementing a plan for the National Health Insurance (NHI) program to fully cover oral drug treatments for hepatitis C, after two pharmaceutical firms agreed to sharply lower prices of their drugs, a local newspaper reported Wednesday.

But private hospitals and clinics have threatened to block the plan, which they claimed would dilute NHI funding and squeeze their profits, the United Evening News has reported.

Health Minister Lin Tzou-yien announced that hepatitis C oral drugs would be fully covered by NHI starting next year, stepping up efforts to tackle a disease that is widespread in Taiwan.

Gilead Sciences, Bristol-Myers Squibb and AbbVie are currently the only three licensed suppliers of hepatitis C oral drugs in Taiwan, the latter two of which have agreed to lower their prices — a development crucial to implementing the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s (MHOW) efforts, according to the United Evening News.