Gilead To License Sovaldi for Cheap in Developing Nations

US drugmaker Gilead Sciences Inc has licensed its hepatitis C drug Sovaldi to 7 India-based drugmakers that will sell far cheaper versions of the $1,000-a-pill medicine in 91 developing nations.

Approximately 150 million people in the world live with chronic hepatitis C infection, most of them in low- and middle-income countries, and the new licenses are designed to give many of them access to an otherwise unaffordable drug.

As with AIDS 15 years ago, modern drugs are transforming the ability to fight hepatitis C, and Sovaldi has been hailed as a breakthrough in treating the liver-destroying virus.

Sovaldi, chemically known as sofosbuvir, is a far more effective and better-tolerated treatment than older injection regimens, but Gilead has come under fire over its US price tag, with cost presenting a huge barrier in poor countries.

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Source: Medpage