Patients with hepatitis C have yet another advanced treatment option after the US Food and Drug Administration approved a new once-a-day pill developed by drugmaker Merck.
The FDA said on Thursday Merck can begin marketing Zepatier, its new drug for patients with the liver-destroying virus. The combination pill includes the medications elbasvir and grazoprevir, which attack the virus in two different ways.
Merck hasn't disclosed the list price for the drug, which requires a 12-week course of treatment.
The approval is good news for patients, because the growing competition should crimp the sky-high prices for hepatitis C drugs, and the additional option mean there's one that will work for nearly every subgroup of people with hepatitis C.
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