Costs
Agents that end in -buvir have been available in Germany since 2014, whereby one tablet costs around €488. This corresponds to therapy costs of 43. 500€ for a person over 12 weeks.
A pack for a four-week therapy with the drug Simeprevir costs about 9. 360€. Therapy with new drugs that end on -asvir, like Daclatasvir, also costs almost 40. 000€ for a twelve week therapy. Combination therapies with several drugs are correspondingly more expensive, so in 2014 the cost of a therapy with Daclatasvir and Sofosbuvir over 12 weeks was more than 80,000€.
Who should be treated and how?
The new drugs for hepatitis C infection are very well suited for patients who have been unsuccessfully pretreated or are chronically infected with genotype 1 or 4. They can be effective when interferon has not helped.The new drugs are also suitable for patients who suffer from HIV infection in addition to hepatitis C. The drugs can also be used in previously untreated hepatitis C virus infections, and with or without liver cirrhosis. This means that this therapy is suitable for many hepatitis C patients.
A combination therapy of interferon and ribavirin is still in use. Which active substance or which combination of active substances is suitable for the patient must be discussed with a specialist and individually adapted to the patient.