Pharma major Cipla and global non-profit organisation FIND (Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics) today announced a strategic collaboration to improve hepatitis C diagnosis and treatment in India and other countries.
"We have entered into a strategic collaboration to improve hepatitis C diagnosis and treatment in India and elsewhere. The potential areas of focus for the new partnership include supporting work to improve the sensitivity of new HCV diagnostic tests."
Building diagnostic capacity and an enabling environment for HCV treatment scale-up; and collaborating on the development and evaluation of demonstration programmes that combine HCV testing and treatment for high-risk populations, including those with HIV co-infection," a joint statement issued here said.
India has an estimated 12 million people living with hepatitis C virus (HCV), most of them do not know their status.
"The new direct-acting antiviral therapy is effective, with few side effects and more affordable. Partnering with leading doctors in the field of liver disease, Cipla has been able to provide treatment to thousands of patients over the past year," the release said.
The new HCV therapies, which are relatively non-toxic compared to earlier interferon-based treatments, have a greater than 95 per cent cure rate over just 12-24 weeks of treatment. Older treatments took a year or more, and were much less effective.
"The challenge is to increase access to the new treatments in countries that don't have simple, low-cost screening and confirmatory tests for HCV. Public screening and diagnosis programmes paired with treatment are needed if we are to maximise the impact of new HCV drugs in low - and middle-income countries," FIND CEO Catharina Boehme said.
Currently, HCV diagnosis requires two or more steps, including a rapid HCV screening test followed by a molecular test of HCV core antigen or HCV RNA. None of these tests are available in rapid formats at affordable prices, it said.
FIND is dedicated to accelerating the development, evaluation and delivery of high-quality, affordable diagnostic tests for poverty-related diseases.
