Hepatitis C Virus (Positioning of Current and Emerging HCV Regimens)| Physician & Payer Forum | Latin America | 2015
Tackling the Market Access Challenges in Brazil, Mexico, and Argentina
Increases in seroprevalent cases of hepatitis C virus (HCV), disease awareness, and patient access to HCV treatment create significant market opportunity in Latin America. The recent or imminent launch of several direct-acting antiviral (DAA) agents, such as sofosbuvir (Gilead’s Sovaldi) and simeprevir (Janssen’s Olysio), in Brazil, Mexico, and Argentina is heralding the all-oral, interferon (IFN)-free era of HCV treatment in the region, which is expected to challenge the IFN-based standards of care. However, while all-oral, IFN-free regimens will likely dramatically improve treatment outcomes for HCV patients, they are also expected to carry price premiums over the current standards of care and will likely be met by ever-demanding payers and strict reimbursement environments. Drug manufacturers must overcome these and other challenges to market access if they aspire to significantly penetrate this highly lucrative disease space.
