"Sofosbuvir - recalls the WHO - is an essential ingredient for new highly effective drugs against hepatitis C"
care of Filomena Fotia –
For the first time, the World Health Organization (WHO) has prequalified a generic pharmaceutical active ingredient against hepatitis C: sofosbuvir. “Sofosbuvir – recalls the WHO – it is an essential ingredient for highly effective new drugs against hepatitis C.
The manufacturer for this prequalified active substance is Mylan Laboratories India“. With this operation, WHO explains, a quality source has been identified for generic producers interested in sofosbuvir.
“Evidently the problem is linked to the fact that whoever had the license to produce the generic sofobuvir could not produce enough. The prequalified company is not authorized to produce the drug but only the active ingredient, so that there is more for those who want to produce the generic“, explains to Adnkronos Salute the pharmacologist Silvio Garattini, director of Mario Negri.
The objective of the operation is to facilitate access to anti-hepatitis C super-drugs by making them more accessible, as explained by the WHO, recalling that "competition from generics has already reduced prices in several countries: for example, in Egypt the cost of three months of treatment dropped from US$900 in 2015 to less than US$200 in 2016, and in Pakistan the same treatment now costs US$100“.
“Data that is not surprising – comments Garattini – since this product, which we still pay for in gold, actually costs nothing. Let's hope that the situation will clear up and the drug will become more accessible in our country as well“.
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