Estimated global cost of treating COVID-19, HIV, Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C with approved effective oral medications

Abstract Background High drug prices can limit treatment access. Patented drugs can be sold for prices far higher than the costs of production. This analysis aimed to determine prices currently feasible to treat COVID-19, HIV, and Hepatitis B or C, with WHO/FDA/NICE approved oral medications assuming competitive generic manufacture. Methods Data on Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API) exported from India were collected from the Panjiva database ( www.panjiva.com ) – an online database of global exports – and were used to calculate current weighted mean cost/kg of API. Target prices were calculated based on the per-pill cost of API, plus costs of manufacture ($0.01/pill), 10% profit margin, and assumed 27% tax on profit. We selected a range of the most commonly used oral treatments based on WHO guidelines for treatment of COVID-19, HIV, HBV and HCV. Current lowest global prices were obtained from public reports and the Pan American Health Organization Antiretroviral Report. Our target prices were compared with national pricing data from a range of low, middle, and high-income countries. Results The main results table shows current prices of antiretrovirals for SARS-CoV-2 (5–14-day course), HIV or HBV (per 365-day course), and HCV treatments (per 12-week course). COVID-19 can be treated with molnupiravir for $12.40, baricitinib for $0.60, or dexamethasone for $0.19 per course. HIV can be treated with DRV/r for $286 per year, ATV/r for $140 per year, TDF/3TC/DTG for $74 per year, TAF/FTC/DTG for $89 and TDF/FTC for $59. HBV can be treated with TDF for $23 per year and TAF for $38 per year. HCV could be cured with sofosbuvir/daclatasvir for $35 per patient and sofosbuvir/velpatasvir for $79 per patient. Maximum list prices (typically from US) were up to 600 times higher than costs of production (e.g. for TDF). Conclusions Key viral infections can be treated or cured with generic drugs at prices far below those of branded equivalents. Use of branded drugs at high prices can limit the potential for countries to achieve the UNAIDS 95-95-95 targets..

Medienart:	Preprint

Erscheinungsjahr:	2022
Erschienen:	2022

Enthalten in:	ResearchSquare.com - (2022) vom: 29. Apr. Zur Gesamtaufnahme - year:2022

Sprache:	Englisch

Beteiligte Personen:	Ellis, Leah [VerfasserIn] Wang, Junzheng [VerfasserIn] Pilkington, Victoria [VerfasserIn] Levi, Jacob [VerfasserIn] Heath, Katherine [VerfasserIn] Hill, Andrew [VerfasserIn]

Links:	Volltext [kostenfrei]

doi:	10.21203/rs.3.rs-1606136/v1

funding:
Förderinstitution / Projekttitel:

PPN (Katalog-ID):	XRA035880473