Ground-breaking deal to help eliminate hepatitis C

Over 30,000 people have already benefitted from new drugs which cure hepatitis C being made available on the NHS over the last few years.

As a result of this investment, the death rate from hepatitis C-related liver diseases has already fallen by more than 16% between 2015 and 2017. The NHS is also seeing cost savings from a fall in liver transplants for patients with hepatitis C, with a reduction of almost 40% in 2017 compared to 2015.

Now, as part of the Long Term Plan and thanks to a first-of-its-kind agreement being announced today, NHS England and three drug companies will work together to proactively identify and treat others who may be unaware they have hepatitis C, including homeless people and those with mental health problems.

Simon Stevens, chief executive of NHS England, said:

“It’s not often that the opportunity arises to completely eradicate a disease, but now the NHS is taking practical action to achieve exactly that.

“The NHS’s sophisticated and unashamedly rigorous negotiation on behalf of both patients and taxpayers means we’ve now been able to strike affordable deals with our life sciences partners to save many more lives and meaningfully cut health inequalities.”