Newswise — The Institute for Safe Medication Practices, a nonprofit in Horsham, Pa., that studies drug safety released a new study this week that raises concerns about a new Hepatitis C Drug. The drugs covered in the new report include two blockbusters, Sovaldi and Harvoni, both made by Gilead Sciences and priced at $1,000 a pill, with billions of dollars in sales. Sovaldi was approved in 2013, and Harvoni in 2014. These drugs and other antivirals can cure the disease in 12 weeks in many patients.
Steven L. Flamm, MD, Medical Director of the Liver Transplant Program at Northwestern Memorial Hospital would like to discuss these developments and the possibilities they offer people with hepatitis C.
In the United States, an estimated 2.7 million to 3.9 million people have chronic hepatitis C, at least 20,000 a year die from it and it is the leading cause of liver transplants, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Dr. Flamm currently prescribes these drugs to his patients, however he takes the claim of this study serious and will consequently investigate the reports.
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