UK NICE recommends hepatitis C drugs Sovaldi and Olysio

In final draft guidance issued today, England health costs watchdog the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has recommended the use of two new drugs for National Health Service treatment of hepatitis C.

The NICE has extended its earlier positive draft recommendations for US biotech major Gilead Sciences’ Sovaldi (sofosbuvir) to include more people with chronic hepatitis C for whom the drug can be considered a treatment option. The draft guidance now also recommends the use of sofosbuvir as an option for some people with genotypes 4, 5 and 6 chronic hepatitis C.

Commenting on the draft guidance, Carole Longson, director of the NICE Centre for Health Technology Evaluation, said: “Current interferon-based treatments for chronic hepatitis C, which often need to be given for a long period of time, are associated with a number of often unpleasant side-effects such as chronic fatigue, neuropsychological effects and flu-like symptoms. As a result many people with the disease either don’t complete the full course, or are reluctant to seek treatment in the first place. New treatments, like sofosbuvir, can shorten the duration of interferon-based therapy and in some cases don’t need to be taken with interferon at all. Sofosbuvir can also be given to people who have previously been treated but did not clear the virus, in people whose condition has relapsed, or in people who have become re-infected after treatment.”