Affordable hepatitis drug offers new hope to millions

Drug gives people in middle-to-low-income countries effective treatment for disease known as the ‘silent killer’.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – Malaysia has registered the world’s first affordable – and effective – new drug for hepatitis C, offering the hope of accessible treatment to millions of people around the world at risk from a disease that has few early symptoms, is hard to diagnose and is often seen as a “silent killer”. The drug, ravidasvir, was approved for use with an existing drug, sofosbuvir, in June, five years after the Malaysian government, partnered with the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi), a collaborative, non-profit drug research organisation to develop the drug. “We decided to work with middle-income countries to try to develop an effective treatment,” said Jean-Michel Piedagnel, director of DNDi Southeast Asia. “We started the clinical trial in Malaysia and Thailand saying we are also going to put on the market an affordable treatment.”