Hepatitis C
The FDA approved Ingrezza (valbenazine) to treat adults with tardive dyskinesia, a serious side effect characterized by involuntary movements in the face and extremities sometimes seen in patients who have been treated with antipsychotic medications. Ingrezza, the first drug approved for this condition, may itself cause unwanted side effects such…
More than 1,500 additional cases of liver injury have been discovered that are associated with the newest class of hepatitis C drugs. In October, the FDA first identified 24 cases involving safety issues related to the 9 new antiviral drugs for hepatitis C, including Harvoni (ledipasvir-sofosbuvir), Olysio (simeprevir) and Sovaldi…
The FDA has approved the first drug to treat all 6 forms of the hepatitis C virus, though it won’t come cheap: A 12-week treatment course has a list price of $74,760. Epclusa (sofosbuvir/velpatasvir) was approved to treat chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV), both with and without cirrhosis of the…
For the estimated 3 to 4 million Americans with the Hepatitis C virus, a new class of drugs called Direct-Acting Antiviral Agents (DAA) appear to be a game-changer, offering better cure rates without the debilitating side effects of the traditional treatment of interferon injections. While these “miracle drugs” sound promising,…
