The company this blogger presented last week, Vertex, which announced a new drug called Incivek, was waiting for FDA approval. Well, on Monday, they got it.
According to the Associated Press,...
The Food and Drug Administration approved Vertex Pharmaceuticals's hepatitis C drug Incivek on Monday, making it the second new treatment to be approved in the last two weeks.
Incivek is a highly - anticipated pill that is expected to have annual sales in the billions. It is approved for patients who have some liver damage from hepatitis C who either have not been treated, or were not cured by other drugs. Patients on Incivek take two pills three times per day.
The Cambridge, Mass., company started a nationwide campaign to increase awareness of the disease in advance of Incivek's approval, and it said Incivek will be available in pharmacies later this week.
The company says a 12 - week course of treatment will cost $49,200, compared to $30,000 for standard therapies.
Hepatitis C is an infectious disease that is spread through the blood, including by sharing needles or having sex with an infected person. Vertex said about 4 million people in the U.S. have the disease, and many people do not know they are infected. Hepatitis C can cause liver damage, cirrhosis, liver failure or cancer.
As I reported, Hepatitis C effects an estimated 270 million to 300 million people Worldwide, 30,000 people in Santa Clara County12,000 people in San Francisco City and County, and 2,400 new cases were reported in 2010.
In my next installment on this, I will talk to a person who's actually used this drug.
Stay tuned.
