Malaysia's move to secure access to more affordable treatments for hepatitis C

Malaysia has issued a “government-use” licence enabling access to more affordable versions of an expensive and patented medicine to treat hepatitis C.

This landmark decision should help the more than 400,000 people living with hepatitis C in Malaysia access sofosbuvir, US biotech major Gilead Sciences’ (Nasdaq: GILD) Sovaldi, and could have important repercussions in the global effort to secure access to expensive treatments for this viral disease.

“The government of Malaysia has been unable to provide access to affordable treatment regimens because of the very high price of sofosbuvir in Malaysia,” said YB Datuk Seri Dr S Subramaniam, the Minister of Health, Malaysia. “To ensure scale-up of our hepatitis C treatment program, the government wishes to purchase generic sofosbuvir at the lowest possible price and make it available in the public health system throughout the country,” he added.