Exactly James.
I am dismayed at the the Hepatitis Council’s blatant acceptance of this announcement as watershed.

It shows that the leopard has not changed it’s spots. Something I thought we might have been able to achieve.

If, in fact, normal GPs like yourself (sorry, you are not really normal at all), will be able to write scripts, then the system will be overloaded. No way are Gilead going to pay for tens of thousands of cures over and above 6,600 per year.

I suggest you purchase a fibroscanner because that is going to be where the triage starts. It will take forever to get one done.

By the way, I have just finished my SofDac course. I had the shakes by the end of it but after three days they are nearly gone. Doing my SVR4 check in late January.

Thanks again.

Just hope the deal the Gov’t has done with Big Pharma doesn’t include a caveat to crack down on the importation of Hep C Generics.
No way the figures stack up in the short term.Methinks the Buyers Club is going to be needed for a long time yet.
Big Pharma has long tentacles and sharp claws.

My 2c worth on why the numbers seem nonsense: Cairns Dr Darren Russell told me on treatment w/o borders facebook site that he and GPs he has spoken to around the country are preparing to write scripts for Hep C patients which can be filled after March 1. He says there has been no official mention of triage and there must have been a significant Cap deal struck which throws the `risk’ of budget blowout back to big pharma – I am paraphrasing but it is the gist – soooo, if the $121m for 2015/16 is the spend limit, and whatever per dose price has been struck, the drug companies seem to have a lot of underwriting to do. Do they care about upsetting price deals made in the US and Europe? No, each market gets its own deal.
And what has Australia done to make it such a special case deserving of big pharma generosity? I think becoming a world centre for trusted generic sourcing has something to do with it. That and other promising drugs under development.

I think you’re close to the mark there, Chapel…what indeed makes Aust a standout case amongst the rest of the first-world, if we will really secure “universal access”? The whole deal can only be speculated upon; no doubt it comes under “commercial-in-confidence” provisions (alas no FOI here, Mike!), but yeah. Whole lotta underwriting for sure if so.

And what has Australia done to make it such a special case deserving of big pharma generosity? I think becoming a world centre for trusted generic sourcing has something to do with it. That and other promising drugs under development.

Well said.

I think the generics played a big part in the final deal. My gut instinct is a Turnbull tactic. Abbott wouldn’t have pulled it off. And I still think the Hep organisations should have the pathways to generics on their website as soon as it got rolling. So much energy and bickering was wasted. Everyone was surprised at the announcement. Now the campaign is to get everyone treated at the drug company’s expensive. We owe it to the people who died waiting for the greedy bastards to back down from their extortion. Happy New Year. kindly