The Health Ministry said Tuesday that the Egyptian equivalent of the US-made hepatitis drug, Sovaldi, is currently available in pharmacies.
The packet sells for LE2,670 (1 USD= LE7.3), Health Minister Adel al-Adawy said in a news conference with the Swiss ambassador to Cairo, adding that the drug is taken for 12 days in conjunction with interferon and Ribavirin shots.
The Egyptian version of Sovaldi, produced by Pharco Pharmaceuticals in cooperation with Swiss company Roche, helps stop the growth of the virus by 90 percent.
Adawy said that supplying the drug to the market is in line with the ministry’s earlier promises to provide the medicine for a suitable price.
The National Committee for the Control of Viral Hepatitis will declare the results of applying the US-made drug to 1,000 patients in mid April, said committee chairman Wahid Dous, who emphasized that more than 90 percent of the cases responded to treatment. He noted that the drug has already been applied to a total of 30,000 people.
Nearly 22 percent of Egypt’s population and about 3 percent of the world’s population are infected with the hepatitis C virus, according to the World Health Organization.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
