Betekent beter altijd duurder?

If left untreated, hepatitis C infection can lead to hepatitis, liver fibrosis, cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Until recently, the standard-of-care was peginterferon with ribavirin. Sofosbuvir is a novel direct antiviral acting agent that targets hepatitis C. Administration of sofosbuvir leads to high cure rates, but is very expensive. Here we question the concept of the value-based pricing of sofosbuvir, and argue that the spiralling price of new drugs leads to an unsustainable healthcare system.

Conflict of interest and financial support: Joost P.H. Drenth provided consultancy during the file submission for sofosbuvir, for which the Radboud UMC Research Institute received remuneration from Gilead. He also sat on advisory boards for hepatitis C treatment for Gilead, BMS, Janssen and Abbvie, and provided consultancy for Abbvie during the file submission for a medicine to treat hepatitis C. An ICMJE form is available online along with the full text of this article.