A new 16,500-bottle batch of American manufactured Hepatitis C drug Solvadi will hit the market Friday, after the Central Bank paid $4 million to the customs department.
The announced was made by Waheed Dous, the head of the National Committee to combat viral diseases, who said that a shortage has come to end and the medicine will be available for the public starting from Friday.
Treatment using Sovaldi began in 2014 after Egypt important the drug manufactured by Gilead Sciences. The company has provided stores of the medication to Egypt at a 99% discount, with Cairo subsidizing much of the remaining costs to provide treatment to its citizens.
In April, a report by the committee revealed that the percentage of patients positively responding to Sovaldi after four weeks reached 92 percent.
A total of 170, 000 hepatitis C patients have been treated so far using different medication protocols signed by the state, Dous told Youm7 Wednesday. He said that 1.1 million patients have registered at the committee to receive the medication.
In a Wednesday phone call to Hayat TV Channel, he added that treatment of the virus is witnessing a “revolution” around the world, adding there will soon be two new medications for the disease.
Dous added that the committee has signed a contract to import 90,000 bottles of American drug Qurevo, set to be available within 15 days, to treat 30,000 patients.
There are currently 44 liver centers across Egypt that provide treatment to patients, Dous said, adding that the number is set to increase to 60 by the end of year 2015, and 100 by the end of year 2016.
Egypt has the highest rate of hepatitis C infection in the world, according to the United Nations Population Fund; 14.7 percent of the population ages 15-49 have tested positive for the virus.
Egypt also plans to produce 1 million bottles of Sovaldi to help implement the government’s ambition in substantially reducing the number of hepatitis C patients by 2020.
