Thailand to launch more affordable Hepatitis C treatment

BANGKOK, May 8 (TNA) -- Thailand will soon launch a more affordable Hepatitis C treatment that is proved to have high success rate, a Ministry of Public Health official says. Director General of the Department of Disease Control Dr Suwannachai Wattanayingcharoenchai said that under the new treatment, which was currently under a research program, was a combination drug of a newly formulated medicine, ravidasvir, and an established one, sofosbuvir. The trials involved the combination treatment showed high success rate with much reduced costs, he said, giving new hope for estimated 71 million people worldwide and between 300,000 to 700,000 Thai people suffering from the disease. To treat 3,000 Thai Hepatitis C patients each year, it cost about Bt300-400 million, Dr Suwannachai said. But the new treatment would cost no more than Bt10,000 per patient with higher success rate of more than 90 percent, the doctor said. Hepatitis C is a highly communicable virus which can lead to cirrhosis of the liver or cancer. Developing new treatment at lower cost can greatly benefit patients in developing countries which have to rely on expensive medicines of pharmaceutical companies. (TNA)