In the world of Hepatitis C patients, Twinvir started to pick on mythical proportions. It seldom happens that a generic drug, no matter how successful, becomes so quickly known to the patients who need it. Twinvir pills (sofosbuvir 400 mg / ledipasvir 90 mg) produced by Incepta Pharmaceuticals in currently one of the best-selling generic medications in the world. How did these pills from Bangladesh get so popular and well known?
Twinvir is a generic version of Harvoni – Meet Joe
Let's put ourselves in the shoes of Joe, a Hepatitis C patient, in late 2013. When Joe was diagnosed with genotype 1, he was told that he had Hepatitis C for more than 10 years but now things are starting to go bad for his liver. He needs a cure as soon as possible.
At that time the only cure available was treatment with interferon injections and supplemented by ribavirin pills. If Joe went with this treatment, there were 50% chances he'll get well in half a year. However, there is also 50% of chances that his liver will not respond to treatment.
New sofosbuvir-based treatment
Luckily, in December 2013 he got another option for treatment. Gilead Sciences, a pharmaceutical company, had just developed and started to market a Hepatitis C wonder drug called Sovaldi (sofosbuvir 400mg). According to clinical trials, the cure rate is more than 90% in only 12-week treatment. The newly developed Harvoni is even better. With his life in danger, Joe was very happy to see the miracle of modern science and was more than willing to go on treatment.
However, what Joe did not plan is the price of the treatment. The price tag of Harvoni was $94,5000 per treatment. The meds do save lives but $94,500 is still a very large sum. This is where Twinvir enters the story.
Twinvir in third world countries
The company producing Harvoni, Gilead Sciences, was reaping sales record all over the US and Europe. However, they had major problems with third world countries – not only did they knew barely anybody in lets say India or Egypt will be able to afford the medicine at high prices, India additionally challenged Gilead because of the lack of innovation that went into developing the sofosbuvir molecule (it really does look like other antivirals). Consequently, as a matter of good will, Gilead gave licences to several Indian and other companies, including Incepta Pharmaceuticals, to produce generic Sovaldi and Harvoni.
Twinvir is thus a miracle drug that was brought to market with quite a miraculous way. Usually, pharmaceutical companies use patents on molecules to keep generics out of the game for 10 years or more. However, Twinvir was being produced, sold and used for treatment only a good year after the first launch of Sovaldi. Produced in Bangladesh, many Hepatitis C patients from the US, Australia and Europe were looking a way to get the necessary medications – but why looking for Twinvir when you have the original version of Harvoni at your local pharmacy?
Twinvir cost – A $1000 price tag
Here the main reason why our patient Joe decided to go to Bangladesh and produce Twinvir – the cost of Twinvir. While Harvoni in the US costs $94,500, exactly the same pills (generic version) costs less than $1,000 in Bangladesh and India. This miraculous drug at low cost is known as Twinvir, and because many patients had a very good incentive to get it, Twinvir's availability and recognition came with it.
There is a major difference between price of Twinvir and Harvoni but no difference in effectiveness. Generic medications have to be by regulation of equal effectiveness (measured by comparing bioavailability of both Twinvir and Harvoni) than the originals. What is more, in this case Gilead practically have the plans how to create sofosbuvir pills to Incepta as a part of their licencing agreement.
Hepatitis C tourism to India to get Twinvir and other Hepatitis C drugs
When Gilead representatives were asked how will they fight patients seeking the low-priced Twinvir and other sofosbuvir-based medications from India, Gilead EVP Gregg Alton told the news service: "We aren't surprised; we knew this was going to happen. This is a reality of having these types of programs. As soon as a gray market develops, there isn't much we can do to control it at a pharmacy level."
In short, patients who are going to die without a cure, will rather seek out $1,000 cure than the $94,500. This is not surprising but it may not be 100% legal to do so. Nevertheless, as Gilead has little control over what patients can do, there is another factor to include – a moral factor. It is understood that pharmaceutical companies spend money for drug research, development, marketing and other costs, and still reap the enormous corporate profits. However, from moral standpoint, when lives are at risk, the business model should at least party change. In other words, if you have developed a cure for Hepatitis C, you are at least partially obligated to help Hepatitis C patients.
What Gilead is actually doing is putting enormous price tags on the developed drugs – which is more considered health profiteering than helping people in need. People seeking Twinvir overseas is a natural response of the population that desperately needs the medicines. If you can get a whole treatment regimen of Twinvir for a single pill of Harvoni, you will be very inclined to buy it.
In the end, Joe will more than likely decide to buy Twinvir than Harvoni.
Here you can see a short video about Incepta's Twinvir, a low-cost version of Harvoni.
Twinvir on FixHepC.com forum
We had a lot of talk about Twinvir on our forum at FixHepC.com, and you're welcome to see what opinions patients had shared about Twinvir and ask them anything about the meds. Remember, they are the ones who have first-hand experience with it. You can access our forum here.
As always, there is a very easy and save legitimate way of getting generic Sovaldi or Harvoni. You can contact Dr. James Freeman and us and we'll help you get the medicines you need.
