No sense in producing unaffordable medicines

I REFER to the letter “Act fast to get life-saving antivirals” (The Star, Nov 16). The author rightly raises the issue of how the vast majority of Malaysians suffering from Hepatitis C (HCV) are unable to obtain treatment with newer antivirals such as sofosbuvir (brand name Sovaldi) due to the exorbitant costs. Malaysians are doubly unfortunate as this country is currently excluded from the list of 101 developing countries that have obtained access to cheap generic versions of sofosbuvir due to licensing agreements with the pharmaceutical company Gilead.

Once again, we find ourselves returning to the question of why lifesaving medicines cost so much that patients cannot access them. The usual reason provided is that pharmaceutical companies have to recoup the high costs of R&D and production. In the case of sofosbuvir, research has shown that the cost of producing sofosbuvir is estimated to be a mere RM450 per treatment course, which is a tiny fraction of the RM144,000 final price tag. As for the cost of research, the study to originally develop sofosbuvir was in fact partially funded by taxpayers in the United States. When these facts are taken together, it becomes exceedingly difficult to understand how the exorbitant prices charged for this lifesaving medicine might be considered fair.