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发帖数: 244 | 1 Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD), currently leading the hepatitis C
market by a huge margin, will see its blockbuster hepatitis C drug Sovaldi
now being sold for $10 as a generic version developed by Incepta
Pharmaceuticals Ltd. in Bangladesh.
Incepta’s generic version of Gilead’s top-selling drug is to sell for $900
for 12 weeks under the name Hopetavir. Gilead has already been criticized
for charging exorbitant prices for its HCV drugs. Sovaldi, proven to be
highly effective than the previous hepatitis C treatments, carries a hefty
price tag of $86,000 for 12 weeks of treatment, with $1,000 per pill; Gilead
’s Harvoni, an advanced version of Sovaldi, is sold for an even higher $94,
500 for a 12-week course. Expensive treatments such as these are
unaffordable for a large part of the hepatitis C population in the
developing countries, creating a high need for generic drug-makers to come
up with low-cost versions of these treatments in order to enable the low-
income part of the world to have access to the treatments.
Gilead, in response to severe criticism over its high-priced HCV drugs, has
also recently enhanced its efforts to make its drugs available to the
developing nations at cheaper rates; Gilead has struck deals with almost a
dozen generic pharmaceutical companies in India, licensing them to produce
low-cost generic versions of its blockbuster HCV drug Sovaldi for 91
countries, mainly the low-income ones, including India, Indonesia, Cambodia,
and many nations in Africa. Some of the major licensees of Gilead’s pact
include Cipla Ltd., Hetero Labs Ltd., Mylan Laboratories Ltd., and Ranbaxy
Laboratories Ltd. Only last week, Gilead signed a deal with Hyderabad-based
Natco Pharma Ltd., allowing it the right to manufacture and sell generic
versions of Sovaldi and combination therapies for the hepatitis C population
of poor nations; Natco has already launched its generic version of Gilead’
s chronic hepatitis C drug in Nepal.
Of the 150 million currently affected by the chronic liver-damaging disease
worldwide, a majority belongs to the low- and middle-income countries, with
almost 73% of the hepatitis C population residing there, as per data
compiled by Doctors Without Borders. |
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