Новейшие препараты от туберкулеза и гепатита С внесены ВОЗ в Перечень основных лекарственных средств

The World Health Organization on Friday said that it added a number of new treatments for hepatitis C to its essential medicines list, although the agency noted that "high prices currently make them unaffordable and thus inaccessible to most people who need them." The WHO also included new drugs for a variety of cancers, including breast cancer and leukaemia, and multi-drug resistant tuberculosis on its list.

The WHO noted that five direct-acting oral antivirals have recently been launched, adding that the products have transformed chronic hepatitis C from "a barely manageable to a curable condition." The drugs include Gilead Sciences' Sovaldi (sofosbuvir) and Bristol-Myers Squibb's Daklinza (daclatasvir).

"Treatments for hepatitis C are evolving rapidly, with several new, highly effective and safe medicines on the market and many in the development pipeline," commented Marie-Paule Kieny, WHO assistant director-general for Health Systems and Innovation. "While some efforts have been made to reduce their price for low-income countries, without uniform strategies to make these medicines more affordable globally the potential for public health gains will be reduced considerably," Kieny added.