Cipla has launched generic drug Sofosbuvir in India under the brand name ‘Hepcvir’. Following the non-exclusive licensing agreement signed with Gilead Sciences in September last year, to manufacture and market chronic hepatitis C medicines, the company is now all set to make the drug Sofosbuvir available to Indian patients in a week’s time.
Sofosbuvir is the first-in-class NS5B polymerase inhibitor to be launched in India for hepatitis C treatment and represents a paradigm shift in the existing hepatitis C management. The high potency, high barrier to resistance, pangenotypic activity, once-daily dosage, good safety profile and the limited drug-drug interactions of sofosbuvir makes it a breakthrough drug in hepatitis C treatment. This drug in combination therapy has shown to have high cure rates of around 90%.
Globally, it is estimated that 170-185 million people (about 3% of the world's population) are chronically infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV). Untreated chronic hepatitis C increases the risk of cirrhosis of liver, liver failure and hepatocellular carcinoma.2 In India alone, it is estimated that 12-18 million patients are infected with Hepatitis C which is several fold greater than those with HIV/AIDS. Globally, HCV is implicated in 28% of cases of liver cirrhosis and 26% of cases of hepatocellular carcinoma, which accounts for almost 500,000 deaths per year.
