A quick thought:
– I do not know what is the current awareness level about the generic HCV medication in other countries, but in Romania I see a kind of disorder when I am looking on different forums or newspapers. People are starting to be more and more informed about the solution provided by the generics, but at the same time the number of those who “offer” their support services increased (I would call them un-trustworthy sources). I would say there is quite a “fight” of opinions with people claiming their way to source the medication was better then the way of someone else. I find such discussions destructive because it creates confusion. But, perhaps not so destructive for someone who will research deeper about generics.

I see this webinar from WHA as a good learning material which might help in creating an order in the world of HCV generics.

One issue that I see is that many people do not seek to allocate time or do not have the skills (like for instance English skills) to do a proper research and get documented about these generics. And this make them dependent on other people. Advocacy groups or patients associations might help them, as it is also mentioned in the webinar, but this leads to another issue, whether such associations are really aiming to support HCV patients or if they are simple Big Pharma puppets.

In conclusion, apart from the doctors, patients associations could also play an important role in helping HCV patients getting treated with the much more affordable generic drugs. The hard to answer question is whether such associations (and I have here in mind those from Romania in particular) are really following their declared mission?

Cheers
RHF