U.S. regulators have approved another drug to treat all forms of hepatitis C that works in as little as eight weeks.
AbbVie’s drug, Mavyret, was approved Thursday by the Food and Drug Administration for patients without significant cirrhosis who haven’t been treated previously for the liver-destroying virus, plus those with a form of hepatitis who were not cured by a prior treatment.
Mavyret joins two other AbbVie hepatitis C drugs, one from Merck and several from Gilead on the market.
The list price without insurance will range from $26,400 for eight weeks’ treatment to $52,800 for 16 weeks’ treatment.
Hepatitis C affects at least 2.7 million people in U.S. The virus develops slowly over decades and many people don’t realize they are infected until signs of liver damage emerge.
(Source: Associated Press)
