Treating 5 Percent of Hepatitis C Patients with New Drugs Would Reduce Cost, Infections: Study

Treating 5 percent of all hepatitis C patients with the latest drugs would be more effective at reducing infections and health care costs than the current approach, a new study shows.

 

The cost-benefits analysis by researchers from the USC Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics and other institutions compares three treatment options to the current approach, or "baseline" scenario, which treats patients in the most advanced stages of the disease when they may need a costly liver transplant.

 

"We made a mistake with HIV by limiting access to treatment to just people who had AIDS, and we ended up with a virus that has been with us for decades," said corresponding author Dana Goldman, the Schaeffer Center director and a professor at the USC School of Pharmacy and the USC Price School of Public Policy. "We didn't initially treat HIV aggressively enough in part because the science wasn't there to justify it. With hepatitis C, we have the science. We just need to find a way to finance it."

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New Hepatitis C treatments cost-effective, but only for selected patients, study shows

A study led by Boston Medical Center (BMC) researchers demonstrates that while new therapies to treat Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) are highly effective, they are cost-effective and provide the greatest value in specific groups of HCV-infected patients. The findings of the study, led by Benjamin P. Linas, MD, MPH, from BMC's section of infectious diseases and the Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM), are published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

The study focused on the combination of sofosbuvir and ribavirin for treatment of HCV genotypes 2 and 3, which account for approximately one quarter of all HCV cases in the United States. These medications were the first all oral combination therapy approved for the treatment of HCV. While this medication regimen is effective in curing more than 90 percent of patients, the wholesale cost of sofosbuvir is approximately $85,000 per treatment course, which has strained insurance budgets and led to treatment restrictions.

Using a simulation model, Linas and colleagues projected outcomes, costs, and cost-effectiveness of sofosbuvir-based treatments for HCV genotype 2 or 3 infection in the US. They found that at these costs, sofosbuvir-based HCV therapy provides excellent economic value in genotype 2 or 3 infected patients who already have advanced liver disease. It also is cost-effective for patients who have already previously failed treatment with other drugs.

Explore further: Cost-effectiveness of immediate HCV Rx in early disease analyzed

Journal reference: Annals of Internal Medicine

Provided by Boston University Medical Center

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Hepatitis C Drugs Will 'Strain Budgets' at Current Prices: Study

The new therapies have remarkably high cure rates

MONDAY, March 16, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- New hepatitis C drugs promise cure rates above 90 percent, but could prove to be budget-busters for public and private health insurers, a new analysis finds.

Recently approved drugs for chronic hepatitis C have been heralded as a breakthrough that could make the liver disease "rare" in the United States. But with prices topping $1,000 per pill, government and private insurers are balking -- often putting limits on which patients qualify for coverage.

Now two new studies in the March 16 Annals of Internal Medicine conclude that for individual patients, treatment with the pricey pills is "cost-effective." That's a calculation that takes into account the years of better health and quality of life people will likely enjoy.

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