Dec 6 (Reuters) – U.S. regulators on Friday approved Gilead
Sciences Inc’s Sovaldi, also known as sofosbuvir, as a
treatment for chronic infection with the liver-destroying
hepatitis C virus.
The pill is the first approved to treat certain types of
hepatitis C infection without the need for interferon, an
injected drug that can cause severe flu-like symptoms.
Hepatitis C affects about 3.2 million Americans, killing
more than 15,000 each year, mostly from illnesses such as
cirrhosis and liver cancer.
Sovaldi is the first in a new class of medications known as
nucleotide analogue inhibitors, or “nukes,” designed to block a
specific protein that the hepatitis C virus needs to copy
itself.
Analysts, on average, have forecast Sovaldi sales of $1.9
billion next year, according to BMO Capital Markets.
