With support of US Georgia brings in new medicine to completely defeat Hepatitis C
The new medicine is likely to cure the remaining two percent of the patients suffering from Hepatitis C. Photo: Liberali.ge.
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With the help of the United States, Georgia will bring in new medicine which is likely to completely defeat Hepatitis C in Georgia by 2020.
Head of the Georgian National Centre of Disease Control Amiran Gamkrelidze stated today that the medicine will be brought to Georgia in December.
In partnership with the American company Gilead, Georgia launched a large-scale Hepatitis C Elimination Program in 2015.
Around 45,000 people have gone through medical treatment for Hepatitis C in Georgia since then, 98 percent of which were cured.
“The new medicine will help us cure the remaining two percent,” Gamkrelidze said.
Typically, the treatment costs €110,000 per person, which would be unaffordable for the majority of Georgians.
Gilead initially sent Sofosbuvir and Harvoni medicines for the treatment of Hepatitis C.
Gamkrelidze has not named the medicine which will be provided in December.
Georgia had one of the highest estimated virus prevalence rates in the world, affecting 6.7 percent of the population.
Georgia’s Health Ministry has launched a new campaigned titled Cure Yourself in order to encourage the people to be tested on Hepatitis C, as the disease has no symptoms until too late.
A new modern centre for Hepatitis C management has opened in the town of Zugdidi in Georgia’s western Samegrelo region today.
US Ambassador to Georgia Ian Kelly said his country will continue supporting Georgia with its Hepatitis C elimination program.
Twenty thousand people suffering from Hepatitis C in Georgia will receive free treatment this year and potentially enjoy 100 percent recovery thanks to an offer from American pharmaceutical firm Gilead to provide a new medicine to Georgia for free.
The United States will continue to support Georgian health authorities in their goal of achieving elimination of Hepatitis C and B in the country, the US Embassy to Georgia said on Monday.