Georgia: A leader in the global fight against Hepatitis C

On the footracks of the official announcement of Hepatitis C treatment in prisions around Georgia, the Ministry of Health announced that it would launch a program for the general population and reach universal coverage by 2016.

The exorbitant price of Pegylated-Interferon, the backbone medicine of hepatitis C treatment, produced and patent-protected by the pharmaceutical giants Roche and Merck, proved to be the biggest obstacle for the Georgian government.

Now, backed by Georgian civil society and patient groups putting pressure on Roche and Merck to reduce their prices, the Georgian government will fiercely negotiate with these companies to reach a price that will ensure their goal of universal coverage can be reached.

The price Georgia secures will not only represent a victory for the country, but for the global access to hepatitis C treatment movement—a movement consisting of patients and their advocates fighting to gain access to these lifesaving medicines, and urging governments and pharmaceutical companies to put lives before profit.

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