by Belen Diego
MADRID, Mar 3 (APM) - The Spanish ministry of health has announced some details of the national hepatitis C plan, including low-interest loans for regions to pay for new therapies, while APM has learnt risk-sharing schemes will bring prices of combinations below today's price of monotherapy in six months.
During an informal meeting with the ministry of health and regional health chiefs in Madrid on Monday, the ministry of finance has agreed to grant regions loans with interest rates ranging from 0% to 1.2% to pay for new hepatitis C drugs, the ministry said in a statement on Monday.
Loans will not be included as debt in regions' deficit threshold, the limit defined by Madrid for the country’s autonomous regions as part of its financial recovery plan under EU recommendations, according to the statement.
As the meeting took place, pricing talks ended in an agreement to sell Gilead’s Harvoni (sofosbuvir+ledipasvir) and AbbVie’s Viekirax (ombitasvir+paritaprevir+ritonavir) under risk-sharing schemes linked to volume of patients treated, someone familiar with the process told APM on Monday.
Under the schemes, prices of these combinations will be revisited, and lowered, as the number of patients receiving them increases. At some point, the source said, combinations will be sold at a lower price than those drugs which entered the Spanish market first. The situation could affect Gilead's Sovaldi (sofosbuvir), Johnson & Johnson's Olysio (simeprevir) and Bristol-Myers Squibb's Daklinza (daclatasvir).
By the end of March, the national hepatitis C plan will be officially passed at the meeting of the council of regions, which gathers regional health chiefs with the minister to co-ordinate health policies, the ministry said.
Spain has agreed to treat patients at disease stages F2, F3 and F4 with new drugs (APMMA 41571), with an estimate of 52,000 candidates (APMMA 41644). However, there is a lack of specific data on number of patients, with some regions, like Andalusia, saying its initial estimates were not accurate and more patients than they initially reported may need the drugs.
Regions have shared their respective registries with the ministry to help design the national plan, and follow-ups will also be shared in order to assess drugs’ efficiency and act on prices “accordingly”, the source said.
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