Back to Search
Start Over
New Hepatitis C Drugs Are Very Costly And Unavailable To Many State Prisoners.
- Source :
-
Health affairs (Project Hope) [Health Aff (Millwood)] 2016 Oct 01; Vol. 35 (10), pp. 1893-1901. - Publication Year :
- 2016
-
Abstract
- Prisoners bear much of the burden of the hepatitis C epidemic in the United States. Yet little is known about the scope and cost of treating hepatitis C in state prisons-particularly since the release of direct-acting antiviral medications. In the forty-one states whose departments of corrections reported data, 106,266 inmates (10 percent of their prisoners) were known to have hepatitis C on or about January 1, 2015. Only 949 (0.89 percent) of those inmates were being treated. Prices for a twelve-week course of direct-acting antivirals such as sofosbuvir and the combination drug ledipasvir/sofosbuvir varied widely as of September 30, 2015 ($43,418-$84,000 and $44,421-$94,500, respectively). Numerous corrections departments received smaller discounts than other government agencies did. To reduce the hepatitis C epidemic, state governments should increase funding for treating infected inmates. State departments of corrections should consider collaborating with other government agencies to negotiate discounts with pharmaceutical companies and with qualified health care facilities to provide medications through the federal 340B Drug Discount Program. Helping inmates transition to providers in the community upon release can enhance the gains achieved by treating hepatitis C in prison.<br /> (Project HOPEāThe People-to-People Health Foundation, Inc.)
- Subjects :
- Adult
Antiviral Agents therapeutic use
Benzimidazoles therapeutic use
Female
Fluorenes therapeutic use
Hepatitis C drug therapy
Hepatitis C economics
Humans
Male
North Carolina
Prisons economics
Prisons organization & administration
Retrospective Studies
Sofosbuvir
United States
Uridine Monophosphate economics
Uridine Monophosphate therapeutic use
Antiviral Agents economics
Benzimidazoles economics
Fluorenes economics
Hepatitis C epidemiology
Prisoners
Prisons statistics & numerical data
State Government
Uridine Monophosphate analogs & derivatives
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 1544-5208
- Volume :
- 35
- Issue :
- 10
- Database :
- MEDLINE
- Journal :
- Health affairs (Project Hope)
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 27702964
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2016.0296