Are the New HCV Regimens Cost-Effective and Affordable?

Although the new all-oral treatment regimens for hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection are highly efficacious, their high costs are a great concern. In what cases are they cost-effective, and in what circumstances might they be affordable?

In a discrete-event simulation modeling study, investigators compared the clinical and economic outcomes of various interferon-free regimens with previous standard-of-care therapies (SOCs) in treatment-naive patients infected with HCV genotypes 1 to 3 infection. A sofosbuvir-ledipasvir regimen was cost-effective for genotype 1 infection and cost $12,825 more per quality-adjusted life year (QALY) compared with the previous SOC. Sofosbuvir-based regimens were less cost-effective compared with SOCs for genotypes …