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Eastern Europe’s Republic of Georgia, with a population of 5 million – of which 7% has hepatitis C – has approximately 350,000 HCV+ people, similar to the number with the disease in Canada. The country, with minimal resources for fighting such an epidemic, has teamed up with the maker of SOVALDI and HARVONI to attempt to demonstrate that, with careful planning and using new hepatitis C drugs, hepatitis C can be eliminated. The company, Gilead, is providing free drugs to all patients, and the country has committed to treating 5,000 patients the first year, ramping up to 20,000 per year. The company hopes the information gathered will be useful to those who wish to develop global HCV elimination strategies. They also hope to see other pharmaceutical companies and international health organizations get together to fight this epidemic in much the way they have to fight HIV/AIDS. More information:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/04/22/us-health-hepatitis-gilead-georgia-idUSKBN0ND1XU20150422