VA can’t afford drug for veterans suffering from hepatitis C

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BY CHIP REID

On Tuesday, a Senate report found Gilead Sciences, which makes a cure for a fatal form of hepatitis, is more interested in profits than patients.

The cure was invented under the leadership of a celebrated doctor in the Department of Veterans Affairs, but at $1,000 a pill, even the VA can’t afford to save the lives of veterans who need it.

In 2013, Vietnam veteran Zion Yisrael was told he had five years to live. He has stage 4 liver disease, caused by hepatitis C — which has infected as many as 230,000 veterans. Most veterans contracted it in Vietnam where it was spread by battlefield blood transfusions and vaccinations.

“The longer it goes, the harder it is to treat,” he said. After decades of suffering, earlier this year, Yisrael was overjoyed to learn there’s a cure. “I felt like my prayers were answered,” hire vetshe said.

The drug — sofosbuvir — is sold as Sovaldi and Harvoni — and claims to cure up to 99 percent of hepatitis C patients.

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