BUSINESS
March 21, 2014 | By Chad Terhune
U.S. lawmakers have asked Gilead Sciences Inc. to justify the price of its new $84,000 drug for hepatitis C patients amid growing concern about the high cost to taxpayers and consumers. In a letter to the Foster City, Calif., company, Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Beverly Hills) and two other Democratic lawmakers asked Gilead Chief Executive John C. Martin to explain the rationale for selling Sovaldi for $1,000 per pill. Medical experts say previous therapies for hepatitis C helped only about half of patients and had numerous side effects, such as flu-like symptoms, anemia and depression.
OPINION
March 12, 2014
Re "Prices of new drugs tough to take," March 10 I understand the necessity for drug companies to recoup research and development costs. But in regard to a medication that can cure hepatitis C, a spokesman for the maker of one drug that costs about $1,000 per pill says that the price reflects the "value" of the drug. This is unconscionable. I have multiple sclerosis, and my drugs are costly. In my case, prices should have dropped once all research and development were recouped; instead, they have increased.
BUSINESS
March 9, 2014 | By Chad Terhune and Eryn Brown
A pair of new drugs to treat hepatitis C offer a cure for millions of Americans afflicted with the disease - but at a potentially staggering cost to taxpayers and health plans. Until now, therapies for hepatitis C helped only about half of patients and posed numerous side effects, such as flu-like symptoms, anemia or depression. In comparison, clinical trials of Sovaldi and Olysio have shown cure rates of 80% to 90% with far fewer complications. That progress, though, comes at a price.
SCIENCE
March 3, 2014 | By Karen Kaplan
The number of Americans who are infected with hepatitis C is falling, but that's probably because more people who have been sickened by the virus are dying as a result, government researchers reported Monday. After analyzing data from thousands of people who participated in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that about 1% of the population over age 5 have hepatitis C. If so, that would translate to 2.68 million people with the virus, known as HCV. In addition, the researchers estimated that 900,000 additional people once had the liver disease but no longer have an active infection.
WORLD
February 28, 2014 | By Amro Hassan
CAIRO - An Egyptian army doctor's recent announcement that the country's military had developed devices that could detect HIV and cure AIDS and hepatitis C has caused a furor of disbelief rather than praise. The physician, Maj. Gen. Ibrahim Abdul Atti, said last week that 22 years of studies that were endorsed by Egypt's intelligence service as a "secret project" reached findings that would "revolutionize" the process of curing viruses. The announcement at a news conference was accompanied by a short video that showed patients connected to machines.
NATIONAL
December 3, 2013 | By Matt Pearce
A drug-addicted medical technician has been sentenced to 39 years in federal prison for infecting dozens of patients with hepatitis C while working at hospitals in several states. David M. Kwiatkowski, 34, had worked at medical facilities in New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Arizona, Kansas, Georgia and New Hampshire as of 2007. In 2010, he learned that he had hepatitis C, a potentially lethal viral disease that can seriously damage the liver in some patients. He also claimed to have Crohn's disease, a digestive ailment.