I stand unashamed….
but corrected.
This is the first time in my life I have been wrong……
Keep up the good work Doc!
Mike

Hello Alsdad,

This article http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Desi-generics-firms-pave-way-for-cheaper-hepatitis-C-drug/articleshow/50609836.cms

Is reporting the study from Dr Andrew Hill I linked to. There are several things to observe:

• Andrew’s numbers are based on customs declarations which, as many of us will be aware, may not reflect the true value of the product shipped because under declaring the value reduces the taxes payable
• Unlike Andrew who observes, we operate in the market and know what prices are available. API prices have been falling, but are still a long way north of what Andrew suggests and at the bottom end of the market there are quality issues. I’m aware of major manufacturers that paid 3 x the suggested Sofosbuvir price to produce their well known generic Harvoni.
• Andrew is talking about Sof+Dac. The per kilo prices for both are currently very similar, but you need 33.6 g of Sof and only 5.6 g of Dac so 86% of the API cost is Sof. Ledipasvir costs nearly 5 x as much per kg as Sof and you need 8.1 g so it costs about 120% as much as the Sof. In other words the API cost for Sof+Led is almost exactly double that of Sof+Dac

In this part of the article:

According to a recent WHO survey on Hepatitis C treatment, the combination is being sold in India for about Rs 46,500 or about $700 per patient for a three month regimen.

This reference is almost certainly referring to this article:

http://www.wpro.who.int/hepatitis/resource/features/2015_walshetal_hepc_avoidasiamissingout.pdf

So the $700 figure refers to Sofosbuvir+Ribavirin, not generic Harvoni.

Given that Daclatasvir is only just becoming available via Natco and generic Harvoni has been on the market for less than a month it seems a little implausible that WHO statisticians put together and published a survey over Christmas.

Supply chain integrity has always been a key part of this site and like Greg Jefferys

http://blogs.hepmag.com/gregjefferys/2016/01/hepatitis_c_treatmen_21.html

I would reiterate that anyone purchasing generic Harvoni for under $1000 in India would do well to have access to HPLC, Mass Spec and NMR equipment.

Over the course of this year I have little doubt we will see generic Harvoni prices fall below $1000 USD, but right now it is unrealistic.

I expect prices will fall in Bangladesh first.

If anyone reading this sources generic Harvoni in India for $700 USD send me one tablet from each bottle. I will send you a box of 6 Twinvir to replace them and publish the results here. I suspect those 6 tablets will do you more good that what you purchased.

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Otm4RusESNU[/video]

Thanks for your reply Doc. A few points to address:

It’s pure speculation to suggest that large business corps are undervaluing their import costs. Individuals and small operations do it, as you pointed out, to cut the duty paid. It’s not such an issue for big corporations because they can offset those duties, and nor is it easy for them to do it even if they wanted to without some very creative accounting.

Your market position is currently the purchase of enough Dac to treat maybe a couple of thousand patients so far? And not all treated at the same time from one bulk purchase, so a kilo-or-two at a time? Big operations will be buying by the drum, and will probably be getting a current price that’s tied into a contract to purchase a helluva lot more.

Dac might be new in India, but it’s generic APis have been around a lot longer than that, and the price of the generic has been dictated by the world market

Are the major manufacturers still willingly paying those high prices in the face of cheaper products in the burgeoning DAA generics market?

Based on the figures in the article I linked, your calculations put the price of generic Harvoni at about US$4.50 a pill.(or less than US$400 for a twelve week treatment.

Sir, I agree with you that a couple of hundred US Dollars is no great shakes to most of us on this forum.But, as has been pointed out by DTD (I wish you could change your user nams ), It’s a huge amount of money to many people in developing countries. It’s probably the difference between being able to scrape, beg and borrow enough money together to treat, and not being able toafford to treat for many people in such countries.

Isn’t the core purpose of this forum to help people obtain affordable generic meds from reliable, trusted sources? That, again as DTD has pointed out, is what this particular discussion is supposed to be about: can anyone verify this source? I don’t buy the reasons being given as to why it shouldn’t be trusted. Or does everything have to go directly through the Buyers Club and Monkmed from now on?

He might mean “rich” in the relative sense, as in a 25K almost poverty level income in US might seem rich to somebody doing manual labor in Malaysia. Nonetheless, that doesn’t change the fact that about 99% of us are getting screwed over these days by the 1% that own too much of everything and own our politicians.

Sir, your post is so far offtopic, it might as well have been made as a new thread starter.

In your zeal to to ‘go off on one’ and create a withering put-down, you make points that have absolutely no relevance to the debates taking place on this thread.

Pathetic. I’m out.