There's nothing free about the revolution that's shaking up hepatitis C treatment. A slew of newer drugs, including sofosbuvir, are nearly eliminating the virus with fewer side effects than the old standbys, pegylated interferon and ribavirin, which had limited effectiveness and caused fatigue, nausea and headaches. But at a cost of $7,000 a week, it seems obvious they are more expensive.
Not necessarily, however, says Jeremy Goldhaber-Fiebert, PhD. Working with colleagues including former Stanford graduate student Shan Liu, PhD, Goldhaber-Fiebert developed a model that examines the overall costs and benefits of treating hepatitis C with sofosbuvir rather than the traditional drugs in prisons. Prisoners are more likely than those in the general population to be infected with hepatitis C, a virus that attacks the liver, because it can be transmitted through intravenous drug use and unclean tattoos.
The researchers found that the high upfront cost saves money in later years by reducing the number of liver transplants and other more invasive treatments needed. In accordance with standard practices, this study examined the overall societal cost without accounting for the source of the money. For example, the prison system's are more likely to spend more money upfront, although savings might be recouped by Medicaid or other private insurers several decades later. From our release:
“Overall, sofosbuvir is cost-effective in this population, though its budgetary impact and affordability present appreciable challenges,” said Goldhaber-Fiebert,who is also a faculty member at Stanford’s Center for Health Policy/Center for Primary Care and Outcomes Research, which is part of the university’s Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies.
Goldhaber-Fiebert called hepatitis C a “public health opportunity.”
“Though often not the focus of health-policy research, HCV-infected inmates are a population that may benefit particularly from a highly effective, short-duration treatment,” he said.
The research appears in this week's Annals of Internal Medicine.
Previously: Fortune teller: Mice with 'humanized' livers predict HCV drug candidate's behavior in humans, A primer on hepatitis C and For patients with advanced hepatitis C, benefits of new drugs outweigh costs
Photo by stevepb
