Egypt needs eight years to eliminate Virus C, Health Minister Adel al-Adawy said during a seminar organized by Al-Masry Al-Youm.
There are currently eight million virus C patients in Egypt, seven million of whom do not know anything about the disease. Most of them are young people, aged 30 or less, Adawy added.
The preliminary results of the Solvadi treatment have proven that over 90 percent of the 60,000 patients who received the medicine have been cured.
The minister also pointed out that over one million patients have applied for treatment, and would all receive it soon.
"I have met with the owners of pharmaceutical companies producing the local variety of Sovaldi, and they agreed to reduce the price of the drug," he said.
The current price of the medicine is LE2,670, which some companies already reduced to LE2,400, Adawy added
Nineteen pharmaceutical companies have the right to produce Solvadi in Egypt, but only five of them are currently producing the drug.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
