Quebec's Public Health Care Plan to Cover Gilead's Hepatitis C Drugs

Gilead Sciences’ (NASDAQ:GILD) hepatitis C medications Harvoni and Holkira Pak are soon going to be approved by Quebec’s public health care plan.
According to the article on CBC:

According to the public health care bureau (RAMQ), some Quebecers with the illness will have to wait up to three years before having access to new treatments and medication.

The specific medications, Harvoni and Holkira Pak, are meant to treat patients carrying genotype 1 of the hepatitis C virus — the most common type of hepatitis C.
The drugs have the potential to cure the illness that attacks the liver within eight to 12 weeks.
However, it also costs upwards of $60,000 per person.
The Quebec government said it would likely have to pay out $1 billion in the first year If the public health-care plan covered the cost of the drug for all Quebecers with hepatitis C.
That’s why only the sickest people will be treated first.

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