Hep C Discussion Forum

Angel67 wrote:

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We call this a postcode lottery & this actually happens with other drugs ,cancer drugs etc & it literally means you can lose out on treatment depending upon which side of street you live. 

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A postcode lottery.... an apt description.  The US has a similar problem.  Unless you are very sick from HCV (but not too sick because you can be excluded for that reason as well) access to tx can depend on the state in which you reside.  This applies particularly to people who are receiving Medicaid but even private insurance coverage can differ depending on the location or who your employer happens to be.  Another "lottery" aspect is the treatment provider. Some medical professionals will push for the tx and others will not.  It ends up being a crap shoot for many patients.  

I can understand rationing in situations where there is a scarce resource--a limited supply that cannot be readily replenished--but these tx drugs are relatively inexpensive to manufacture.  Moreover, "healthier" patients require very little monitoring by medical professionals during tx.  In reality, the reason for rationing is that the drugs are too expensive.  

I can't help but wonder what would happen if someone found a cure for cancer (a non-infectious disease).  Would anyone but the super rich be able to afford it? There can certainly be a financial disincentive for pharma to find actual cures where profit is the motivating force.   

I have never bought into the idea that it would need to be a perfect world to resolve many of these issues.  Simply a more humane world that valued people above money. 

Yes I agree, Isiscat, and in an ideal world no treatment drugs would have to be rationed out on the basis of a `cost effective` assessment. 

On the other hand the good news is that people in England who are in the most urgent need of interferon- free treatment are already receiving either Sovaldi + Daclatasvir or Sovaldi + Ledipasvir through compassionate use programmes.  And actually we have two members here who are currently being treated under this scheme with one or other of these combos.  So the situation isn`t quite as bad as first appears!

Here`s some info about that from an NHS (National Health Service) statement earlier this year...

http://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/sofosbuvir-pol-stat.pdf

Hi again Angel, and thanks for your comments. 

Sovaldi is definitely going to be made available for the NHS in the UK but on a limited basis according to genotype and urgency of need, because the cost is so high, even with the discounted price.  The link I posted gives you the key draft recommendations from NICE about which categories of patients should be prescribed treatment with Sovaldi, and we`re still waiting for the final recommendations to be announced.   In the meantime people in the most need over here are already being treated with Sovaldi after the funding for them was made available earlier this year as a priority. 

The second link you posted is dated from April this year, before the draft approval was announced. 

And yes, you`re right, there are other drugs in the pipeline and no doubt they`ll eventually be available over here too. 

We hope!