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There are roughly 75 million HCV infections in the world.

That translates to a total cure cost of:

75M * $350k = $26.25T

There are other ARV treatments available which cost now roughly $50-100k and cure in 3 months.

Whereas immunizing everyone against coronaviruses currently costs:

8B * $7 = $56B

Clearly, the costs of the HCV cure are predatory and unreasonable because it doesn't lead to eradication and it's inaccessible to the poor and the third-world.



It's also worth noting that if it's $7 for the payer, there's a lot less than $7 of profit.


The true unit cost is probably $6 per dose. The COVID vaccines may break-even short-term. Long-term, it's probably worth keeping an extra 120M potential customers alive for what will probably result in a small profit.

The true unit cost of HCV cures is unknowable but possibly half of the current price.




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