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If scaling up HIV treatment globally was made possible by Indian generics companies, it looks like they are set to repeat this feat with hepatitis C treatment. In a recent paper published in a medical journal, academics working on drug pricing calculated that the generic sofosbuvir and daclatasvir combination used to treat hepatitis C could be produced for as little as $200 per patient per 12-week course. The same combination could cost almost $150,000 per patient for the same period in the US.
Researchers at Liverpool University, Imperial College, London, and Howard University, US, have published a paper in the Journal of Virus Eradication in which they have calculated the cost of producing the combination from data on exports from India of active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) or raw materials used to manufacture the drugs in 2015. This drug is much in demand as it can be used to treat all genotypes of the hepatitis C virus, and can even be used for patients with advanced liver disease.
The research paper noted that between January 1 and October 2015, the price of APIs for sofobuvir fell from $8,754/kg to just $2,501/kg. Over the same period, the price of daclatasvir fell by $1,664/kg. To the cost of API needed for a 12-week course, the researchers added cost estimates for formulation and packaging and a mark-up of 50% to arrive at the price of $200.