A leading Taiwanese physician is calling on the government to introduce a comprehensive national policy for eradicating hepatitis C.
The head of the Taiwan Association for the Study of the Liver, Chien Rong-nan, said on Monday that because there are no vaccines for liver disease, the best thing to do is lower the cost of medication used to treat it.
Over 400,000 people with hepatitis C do not receive treatment in Taiwan. More than 10,000 people are added to that group each year. The medical community is calling on the government to take steps to cut the price for new medication used to treat hepatitis C, since it has a cure rate of 95% with few side effects.
Chien said the government should take the initiative to negotiate with drug makers to cut the exorbitant cost of the medicine so that more patients can be cured.
Viral hepatitis is the 6th leading cause of death in the world. Over 85% of people who are diagnosed with acute hepatitis C will eventually be diagnosed with “chronic hepatitis”. Of those, 20% will be diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver or even liver cancer.