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A hepatitis C treatment that costs less than $300 – a fraction of the $80,000-plus price charged by major drugmakers – has been successfully tested in Egypt and is expected to be available in the next one to two years.
The Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi), a not-for-profit organisation, has teamed up with the Egyptian drugmaker Pharco Pharmaceuticals to bring a combination treatment of two hepatitis C tablets, ravidasvir and sofosbuvir, to countries that cannot afford to pay the high prices charged by US drugmakers Gilead, AbbVie and Merck.
Hepatitis C is a blood-borne viral infection that can lead to liver cirrhosis, cancer and death.
Announcing the collaboration at the international liver congress in Barcelona, DNDi said it would conduct clinical studies of the combination treatment, which has already been tested on 300 patients in Egypt with a 100% cure rate, in Malaysia and Thailand, which have different genetic characteristics. It is expected to be available in Egypt within the next 12 months, and elsewhere within 18-24 months.