Germany: German insurers win discounts on Gilead's Sovaldi

Jan 24 (Reuters) - U.S. biotechnology company Gilead has conceded its first discounts in Germany on its key hepatitis C drugs Sovaldi and Harvoni, German business weekly WirtschaftsWoche reported.

The head of Gilead's German operations told the magazine that discounts from the list price of 60,000 euros ($67,242) per treatment had been negotiated with four of Germany's statutory health insurers but declined to give the size of the discounts.

"Thirty-five percent of people with statutory health insurance are already profiting from the discount agreements," Carsten Nowotsch said in an interview to be published on Monday, adding that more such contracts could follow.

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Longmont Woman Cured Of Hepatitis C, Credits New Drugs

DENVER (CBS4)- A woman from Longmont has been cured of Hepatitis C during her participation in a clinical trial testing an expensive new drug.

Kim Bossley is thanking the drug Sovaldi for changing her life.

It was 2005 when Bossley learned she had Hep C. Both Kim and her mother were infected during Kim’s birth through a blood transfusion. Kim’s mother died when the disease destroyed her liver.

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Gilead to appeal India patent ruling on hepatitis C drug

(Reuters) - U.S.-based Gilead Sciences Inc will appeal the Indian patent office's rejection of its application for hepatitis C drug Sovaldi, a move that could allow local drugmakers to launch cheaper generic versions of the $1,000-a-pill medicine.

The rejection relates to the patent application covering the metabolites, or small molecules, of sofosbuvir, the chemical name of Sovaldi.

Indian drugmaker Natco Pharma and the Initiative for Medicines, Access & Knowledge (I-MAK) had opposed Gilead's application on the grounds that the drug is not inventive enough compared with a previous formulation.

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More UK patients will now be eligible for two costly hepatitis C treatments

Sofosbuvir has received the green light from NICE but will not be available to patients until August 2015, while simeprevir will only be accessible through a patient access scheme.

Expensive treatments for hepatitis C will now be available to more patients in the UK, according to final draft guidance from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published on 16 January 2015.

NICE has extended its original draft recommendations for simeprevir and sofosbuvir to cover more people with hepatitis C. However, patients will have to wait until August 2015 for sofosbuvir, and simeprevir will be available only under a groundbreaking ‘pay if you clear’ deal agreed with the manufacturer.

NICE has issued final draft guidance^[1] recommending simeprevir (Olysio, Janssen), in combination with peginterferon alfa and ribavirin, as an option for treating two forms of hepatitis – genotype 1 and genotype 4 (4% of diagnoses). The previous draft guidance did not recommend simeprevir for treating genotype 4.

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NICE backs new hepatitis C treatments

Two drugs that represent a major advance in hepatitis C are set to be routinely available on the NHS in England and Wales, after NICE issued final draft guidance recommending both Gilead Sciences' Sovaldi (sofosbuvir) and Janssen's Olysio (simeprevir) to treat people with the infection.

Both drugs were approved in Europe in 2014 based on impressive clinical data and have gone on to record substantial sales, helped by the fact that both Olysio and Sovaldi were approved as part of shorter oral regimens that do not require the use of interferon, an injection that needs to be taken over several months.

However, both Gilead and Janssen expressed disappointment with some aspects of the NICE guidance.

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Australia: The miracle cure with a billion-dollar price tag

It's been hailed as a miracle cure for hepatitis C – but comes with a billion-dollar price tag.

The Commonwealth government is under pressure to subsidise Sovaldi, produced by drug company Gilead, that has been approved by the Therapeutic Goods Administration but has been rejected for listing on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme on value-for-money grounds.

The Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee, the independent expert body that decides which drugs should be subsidised, will consider a second application to list the drug at its March meeting, along with applications to list three other new hepatitis treatments.

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Israel: New Hep C treatment tops formulary spending list

Ministry of Health recommends NIS 300 million worth of medications to be subsidized by state in 2015 

The Ministry of Health published Tuesday a list of drugs, medications and new treatments set to be fully or partially subsidized by the state in the year 2015. A special Health Ministry committee debated the formulary for several weeks, finally selecting the treatments late Monday night from nearly NIS 3 billion (about $860 million) worth of medications.

The committee’s recommendations are expected to be passed into law in early 2015.

Close to NIS 300 million (close to $86 million) will be allocated towards the various medications, with nearly a third of the budget dedicated to a new treatment for Hepatitis C.

Read more: New Hep C treatment tops formulary spending list | The Times of Israel http://www.timesofisrael.com/new-hep-c-treatment-tops-formulary-spending-list/#ixzz3NQzXKpfy