HCV: prices hinder access to treatment

The American health authorities alerted, at the beginning of August, to the very large number of people suffering from hepatitis C, but not being treated, while highly effective treatments have been available for a decade. They called on health insurance companies and other health actors involved to remove the obstacles, for example administrative, complicating access to these vital treatments. In total, less than one in three people with health insurance receive treatment for hepatitis C in the United States within a year of their diagnosis, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). . Antiviral treatment consists of taking pills orally for eight weeks. “Almost overnight, we went from a life-threatening chronic infection to something easily curable,” said CDC’s Jonathan Mermin. But the initial price of treatment has led many insurance companies to create “barriers”, he explained, and these have sometimes remained in place despite the cost having fallen sharply in recent years. In fact, DAA treatments (direct-acting antivirals) are unavailable to a large proportion of people who need them.