Are New HCV Drugs Like Solvaldi Too Expensive?

Over two decades of intensive work and research have helped to produce drugs that are now capable of curing people who’ve contracted hepatitis C. This is an all too important topic in the world of medicine, especially during the month of May (it happens to be Hepatitis Awareness Month). At the same time, the arrival of these incredibly effective drugs has also sparked a serious debate over pricing.

The drugs can produce cure rates (defined as an absence of any detectable hepatitis C virus [HCV] RNA for at least 6 months after treatment has ended) that are nearing 100 percent in clinical trials like these. This would have been unimaginable just a decade ago. So the question is are they worth the massive price tag?

There has been a significant uproar over the prices for these new hepatitis drugs, one that is eerily similar to the argument over HIV/AIDS that was made nearly 15 years ago.

Public Criticism of the Cost for these New HCV Drugs

Researchers spent many grueling years working to develop drugs that could stop or at least slow the replication of HIV (this could add many years to a patient’s life). These drugs were also quite expensive when they hit the market, which lead to several very public protests by AIDS activists.

So far, the public criticism of price for these HCV drugs has been nothing less than fierce. In fact, several industry influencers like Medscape have published articles calling the high cost of these drugs “outrageous”.

Inevitably, we have found ourselves pondering over this very same question since learning about the proposed price tags (Solvaldi costs $1,000 for a single pill). To get to the bottom of this argument, we should consider the true value of a drug like Solvaldi. It essentially replaces the need for patients to undergo therapy that was notorious for three things:

1. Being incredibly difficult to tolerate
2. Wasn’t extremely effective
3. Was also pretty expensive on its own

The golden standard prescribed to most hepatitis C patients in 2012 was a combination of ribavirin and interferon. The interferon was also notorious for the adverse effects it caused for patients. Here were some of the drawbacks:

• It took anywhere from 24 to 52 weeks to complete
• Interferon caused depression, fever, chills and low blood counts
• It had to be administered via monthly injections
• Required additional drugs to combat these side effects
• About a 50/50 chance it could all fail

This new hepatitis C therapy only takes 12 weeks to complete.

What Are the Alternatives?

We should also take a second to consider some of the costs patients may incur if they choose to forgo these new hepatitis C drugs:

• Course of Interferon plus ribavirin – $30,000
• Liver transplant – +$500,000
• Anti-rejection drugs for after a transplant – $20,000

This does help put some perspective on the $84,000 price tag attributed to new drugs like Solvaldi (which is also the only FDA-approved hepatitis C drug that is interferon-free). Early stage HCV protease inhibitors also produced incredible cure rates, but they were designed to be taken in combination with interferon.

(Quick Fact: More heavyweight pharmaceutical companies are closing in on FDA approvals for their own interferon-free HCV drug combinations.)

There’s no arguing that the cost of these new medications are more than steep, but we need to keep in mind the true value they are providing. Nearly 100 percent cure rates in just 12 weeks with less adverse effects on the patient’s body.

The World Needed Better Medications for Hepatitis C

It was just last year that the CDC asked for Baby Boomers to get tested for HCV, and the WHO just announced its new guidelines for the treatment of hepatitis C. With an estimated 170 million infected around the world (4 times as many as HIV), this virus poses a serious threat to public health.

(Quick Fact: Most people will go years without realizing they have contracted HCV due to a lack of physically distinctive symptoms.)

So before you become too angered over the prices of these new drugs, please consider a few things:

• Medical advancements like this are once in a lifetime events, and we are fortunate enough to have made them at a time when they are desperately needed.
• These pharmaceutical companies spent many years and billions of dollars developing them.
• Weigh that against the fairly high rate of failure for the previous method of treatment available for patients with hepatitis C.