Biotech Values

[DewDiligence]

GILD/ABBV/ENTA—Medicaid should be treating more HCV patients, say US government advisors:

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/26/us/wider-reach-is-sought-for-new-hepatitis-c-treatments.html

Federal and state Medicaid officials should widen access to prescription drugs that could cure tens of thousands of people with hepatitis C…health care experts have told the White House.

The experts, from the Public Health Service and President Obama’s Advisory Council on H.I.V./AIDS, said that restrictions on the drugs imposed by many states were inconsistent with sound medical practice, as reflected in treatment guidelines issued by health care professionals and the Department of Veterans Affairs.

…Current restrictions on access to hepatitis treatments are “unreasonable and discriminatory” and are “not supported by medical evidence,” the advisory council said in a letter to Mr. Obama. The federal government should require states to relax or eliminate the restrictions…

…The council criticized three types of restrictions. Some states cover the new drugs only for patients who have advanced liver disease. Many states require patients to abstain from the use of alcohol or illicit drugs for up to a year before treatment. And some states will not cover the drugs unless they are prescribed by specialists like gastroenterologists or experts on infectious diseases.