In a year or so, British Columbians waiting for hepatitis C treatment will need to wait no longer. The province recently announced that starting in 2018-19 its PharmaCare drug plan will cover direct-acting antivirals for any resident with the disease, no matter how much liver damage they’ve suffered—or not suffered.  Among the drugs PharmaCare will cover are

• Daklinza (daclatasvir)
• Epclusa (sofosbuvir/velpatasvir)
• Harvoni (ledipasvir/sofosbuvir)
• Sovaldi (sofosbuvir)
• Sunvepra (asunaprevir)
• Zepatier (elbasvir/grazoprevir)

Hep C often takes several decades to seriously attack the liver, and many Canadians have had to wait years before their provincial drug plan would cover these quick, incredibly effective treatments. The situation has been similar in the United States, where restrictions under Medicaid vary from state to state.

Three years ago, many plans insisted a patient be diagnosed with stage 3 fibrosis or even cirrhosis before they would cover the drugs. More recently, that dipped to stage 2 or even 1 in many provinces and in some U.S. states.

Gradually, insurers worldwide have been negotiating lower prices for bulk buying of the drugs. The pan-Canadian Pharmaceutical Alliance has been negotiating on behalf of all Canadian provinces. It’s success in lowering costs has allowed British Columbia’s announcement. Under B.C.’s PharmaCare, patients pay a just small percentage of the drug cost, depending on their income. I live in British Columbia. I’m so happy to learn this news.