TOPIC: Sofosbuvir in Morocco

It seems that generic sofosbuvir will soon become available in Morocco...

www.moroccoworldnews.com/2015/10/171080/...edicine-in-market-2/

Morocco is one of the countries that is excluded from the "territories" than may be supplied by the Indian manufacturers who have signed Gilead's "Voluntary Licence". So it seems that (with the blessing of the Moroccan government), one of Morocco's generic manufacturers "Pharma 5" has gone ahead with the development of their own version of sofosbuvir...

This is great news for Morocco's 625,000 hepatitis C sufferers (out of a population of some 33 million) because the company is reported to be planning a price of 3000 Moroccan Dirham, or approximately $300 US (in French):

www.lavieeco.com/news/economie/hepatite-...ofosbuvir-35695.html

.... This might also mean that Morocco could soon become a very attractive holiday destination for european Hep-C tourists?

Additional sources (again in French):

www.aujourdhui.ma/maroc/societe/hepatite...-121423#.Vi-1kJeSHDc
telquel.ma/2015/04/22/hepatite-c-gilead-...ion-pharma-5_1443469
www.yabiladi.com/articles/details/37010/...ble-laboratoire.html

".. This might also mean that Morocco could soon become a very attractive holiday destination for european Hep-C tourists?"

Yes, if you are not a woman! I base this comment on a travel I did to Morocco, admittedly several years ago. Having travelled in very many Arab, Asian, Indian, countries, Morocco gets my prize for the men who are the most pests to single foreign women. I was unable to walk unaccompanied by a man in any street without being approached constantly by irate Moroccan men who proceeded to lecture me on my very existence being an affront somehow to them. There was no actual bodily violence to my person as I stuck to well-populated main streets, but my clothes were pulled at, even though I was covered with a large headscarf and top-to-toe clothes with only hands and face showing. If I went again I'd wear a full burkha and veil, but It's probably the one place on this earth that I would never go again, even to get hepc meds.

dointime

hey dt - do you mind me asking where you went in Morocco? Was it Marrakesh? I've heard it can vary quite a bit depending on the area.

Well, apart from reading the news in French, I must admit, my only real knowledge of Morocco comes from the film Casablanca....

Louis: What in heavens name brought you to Casablanca?
Rick: My health. I came to Casablanca for the waters.
Louis: The waters? What waters? We're in the desert.
Rick: I was misinformed.

Hi LG, Vororo

The worst hassle was in Marrakesh. By hassle, I mean a seriously violent tone, not some half-hearted prodding. I also went up into the mountains with a male friend and our 2 'tour guides' turned nasty on us and tried to charge us several times what we had agreed to pay them. We were not rookie travellers and not old or vulnerable at the time but we were glad to get out of there intact.

Vororo - I didn't want to offend you so I thought twice about posting this, but women need to know that Morocco is not your ideal medical tourism destination, at least not when I was there. Maybe it has changed some and maybe it does depend on the area. I wouldn't expect to get this kind of hassle on a tourist beach or there wouldn't be any tourists there, but if I just wanted a tourist beach there's plenty of other places to find one. I wanted an authentic experience and sure enough I got it! If you do go, go with a male friend and pack a burqua and veil, just in case.

dt

hey DT - Friends of mine had hassle in Marrakesh recently, male and female. They went out to a lovely place somewhere else away from the city and had a lovely time in a relaxed place with a very nice bunch of Moroccans who also took them on tours up mountains, apparently , great food a warm company. I think it does depend where you are and getting recommendations from others, but there's always that element of risk there. Especially lone female Western travelers. It's a shame, the art and the food is awesome (edit) and I might add, many of the people.

Hi DoinTime, LG, & friends,

No offence taken...

A really great thing about the FixHepC web site is that it allows people to share knowledge and experience about Hep-C itself, but also about what is happening in the world, and ... lets say "other" ... considerations that should be taken into account when trying to find what should be a basic treatment at a fair price which is accessible to all.

One thing I have learnt from this web site is that there are still may parts of the world that Gilead has failed to get its dirty hands on and that, thanks to people like Greg Jefferys and James Freeman, more and more people who are excluded or trapped by their own health care systems are successfully finding a way to treat themselves. Knowledge is most certainly power!

But let's not forget that for most "westerners", $1000 for a treatment might finally seem like a fair price, but this is still hopelessly out of reach for many people around the world... So, to really bring prices and barriers down, the more manufacturers the better!!

But let's not forget that for most "westerners", $1000 for a treatment might finally seem like a fair price, but this is still hopelessly out of reach for many people around the world... So, to really bring prices and barriers down, the more manufacturers the better!!

Veroro.This is so true.We westerners on these forums have a tendency to be like kids in lolly shop with these generic prices.
Every year in India thousands of farmers commit suicide because they cannot afford to pay $500 for the seed for next years crop.Its the same in many places in Asia.There won't be any true justice for many of these people until the price comes down to something near the cost of making the pill.

Yes, and it will happen like this.

First there was brand name medication for $84,000 and some people got treated

And then there were generics for $1000-$2000 and many more people got treated <<< We are here

And then many factories started to make good generics and prices fell

And then Hep C went the way of smallpox.

According to this article:

www.huffpostmaghreb.com/2015/12/02/hepat...-cher_n_8695680.html

Pharma 5 now has enough Sofosbuvir to supply the entire country of Morocco for one year. According to Pharma 5 (in French)

www.pharma5.ma/ssb-400/

the Moroccan Health Minister asked Gilead to include Morocco in the list of countries that Gilead would allow its Indian licensee companies to export to, but he got no reply. So the Health Minister authorised local production...

The cost is 3000 Dirhams per box (about $300 US) and Pharma 5 are now looking to supply much of Africa:

www.pharma5.ma/en/international-2/

Dear G7 Leaders, please take note!

Thats great news for the people of North Africa but I don't think Africa was ever Gilead's target market. I expect this will piss them off quite a bit though as it may embolden other countries to take similar action.

cheers

Agreed, and while Africa probably isn't a primary market for them it is interesting to consider the current situation in Morocco in the context of the below thread:

fixhepc.com/forum/media-news/472-history...r-hiv-meds.html#5509

Gaj wrote:
You want us to read this cyber.law.harvard.edu/people/tfisher/South%20Africa.pdf don't you

Whatever helps you sleep Paul!

More seriously while it is an interesting if long read, dt gives a good summary of it in the last post of the thread.

No doubt about it, the news is good for North Africans, and yet the question dt left on the table was, basically, why haven't more governments stepped up to the plate?
... I guess the answer is, greed still trumps need.
I agree with miko3 in many ways but Dr Freeman is right on target with what needs to happen to fix this as best we imperfect humans can.
Fight on for generics! Support Fixhepc and Dr Freeman's efforts!