Gilead uses Georgia as free-drug testbed for hepatitis C elimination

(Reuters) - Gilead Sciences is seeking to convince governments and multilateral agencies worldwide that hepatitis C can be eliminated with a demonstration project in Georgia offering free drugs to all those who need them.

The unprecedented program will make the Caucasian country a testbed for uprooting the liver-destroying disease, using Gilead's highly effective but costly pill Sovaldi, plus its newer product Harvoni once approved.

Georgia has the world's third highest prevalence of hepatitis C, after Egypt and Mongolia, with nearly 7 percent of adults carrying the virus. It also has a wide range of viral variations and different types of patients.

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Georgia: Twenty dental clinics closed due to Hepatitis C risk

Twenty dental clinics have been closed in Tbilisi and the regions because of unsanitary conditions and the high risk of Hepatitis C. Deputy Health Minister Valeri Kvaratskhelia stated that the monitoring in dental offices was carried out in the framework of the hepatitis C program through which dental clinics in Tbilisi and most regions of Georgia have been checked in order to eliminate the threat of hepatitis C and other infections.

“From the 20 clinics that failed to meet standards, five have already re-opened, as they have implemented our recommendations,” he said.

He also added that the monitoring has been beneficial to society.

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Georgia: New Hepatitis C medicine to enter Georgian market in April

Hepatitis C could soon be "completely eliminated” in Georgia, says the country’s Health Minister.


Georgia is preparing to sign a trilateral agreement that will allow a new medicine to be introduced to the market, which aimed to completely eradicate the infectious disease in Georgia.


Today Georgia’s Minister of Health David Sergeenko held a press conference and said the contract about the new Hepatitis C medication would be signed in April between the Government of Georgia, the United States Disease Control Centre and American biotechnology company Gilead Sciences.

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Georgia: STOP C: Presidential couple joins fight against Hepatitis C

Georgia’s President and the first lady have joined the country's new campaign to intensify the fight against Hepatitis C.

President Giorgi Margvelashvili and his pregnant partner Maka Chichua, posted a picture on the President’s official Facebook page that showed themselves posing with their hands outstretched, showing off words written on their palms that said: "STOP C”.

Georgia declared 2015 as the year of fighting against Hepatitis C.

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