UK: NHS accused of delaying access to 'highly tolerable' hepatitis C drugs over cost concerns

The NHS has been accused by leading health charities of attempting to “severely limit” the introduction of new drugs to treat hepatitis C because they are too expensive – despite the cost of them being cleared by officials.

The organisations have called on the Health Secretary to intervene, saying that NHS England has made a series of “unprecedented requests” for patients’ access to new drugs to be delayed because of the price.

Yet Nice has approved the drugs as “cost-effective”, leading to a plea from 14 organisations and senior doctors including the Hepatitis C Trust, the National Aids Trust and The Haemophilia Society to Jeremy Hunt.

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