Market uptake of new antiviral drugs for the treatment of hepatitis C

Background/Aims Peginterferon plus ribavirin is the state-of-the-art antiviral therapy for prevention of serious complications of hepatitis C. Our aim was to compare market uptake of and access to these drugs across Europe. Methods We collected launch and sales data for peginterferons for 21 countries in the WHO European region and compared country-specific sales rates. Additionally, we converted sales figures into patient numbers and related those to country-specific hepatitis C prevalence, taking into account genotype distribution, patient characteristics and practice patterns. Results Peginterferon sales rates differed considerably across countries. The earliest, most rapid and highest adoption rates were in EU founder states, followed by EU members that joined after foundation, and EU non-member states. Most new member states showed a marked increase in sales. By the end of 2005, approximately 308,000 patients had been treated with peginterferons in the 21 countries evaluated. The number of patients ever treated ranged from 16% of prevalent cases in France to less than 1% of cases in Romania, Poland, Greece and Russia. Conclusions Peginterferon market uptake and access differed considerably across Europe, suggesting unequal access to optimised therapy. Besides budget restrictions, national surveillance and treatment policies should be considered as reasons for market access variation.