Abstract
UNITAID supports market-based interventions to improve access to medicines, diagnostics and preventive commodities for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), tuberculosis and malaria. To help identify market-based interventions, UNITAID analyses the market of commodities of interest. These analyses, or landscapes, provide an overview of medicines on the market and in the pipeline, highlight critical market shortcomings and the underlying reasons for market failures, and identify potential strategies to correct them.
This landscape analysis surveys the current state of technologies for the treatment of hepatitis C virus (HCV), as well as market dynamics that affect the affordability and accessibility of HCV therapeutics. HCV treatment falls within the ambit of UNITAID’s mission because it is a major HIV coinfection and a leading cause of morbidity and mortality among people living with HIV. Strategic Objective 3 of the UNITAID Strategy 2013−2016 specifically refers to viral hepatitis, notably hepatitis B and C.
Following a brief description of the methodology, this report assesses the public health problem of HCV infection. Section 3 provides an overview of current knowledge of the fast-evolving landscape of approved and experimental HCV treatments, comparing each to the ideal or target profile for an optimally effective and scalable HCV treatment regimen. Section 4 summarizes market dynamics associated with HCV treatments, including supply, demand and factors that affect the affordability, accessibility, uptake and sustainability of HCV treatments. Section 5 identifies weaknesses in the HCV treatment market, and the final section (6) proposes potential market interventions to enhance access to safe, effective and affordable HCV medicines.
