DNDi aims to deliver:

• A safe, effective, and easy-to-use direct-acting antiviral regimen, to be used as an affordable combination paving the way for a public health approach to hepatitis C.
• Increased access to affordable treatments by supporting policy change and encouraging political will to treat hepatitis C.
• Innovative programmes to improve access to hepatitis C diagnosis and treatment in a variety of countries.

DNDi’s current hepatitis C portfolio includes:

Development

• Ravidasvir + sofosbuvir: With the aim of enrolling 300 patients infected with genotypes 1a, 1b, 2, 3, and 6 – both with and without cirrhosis – the second stage of the trial was launched in late 2018, with the first patients enrolled in Malaysia in January 2019 and in Thailand in May 2019.As of January 2020, 180 patients had been enrolled, of whom 46 were in Thailand and 134 in Malaysia.

  Plans to submit for the conditional registration of ravidasvir with the Malaysian National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Authority are underway and filing is expected in mid-2020.

Implementation

• Hepatitis C screening in Malaysia – #MYmissingmillions: Ahead of World Hepatitis Day 2019, the Malaysian Ministry of Health, DNDi, and FIND launched the #MYmissingmillions campaign to raise awareness of the importance of early hepatitis C diagnosis and treatment. The partnership offered Malaysians, especially those considered to be at high risk, the opportunity to be screened at more than 100 hospitals, primary healthcare centres, and study sites located across the country’s 14 states, and to receive highly effective treatment free of charge.More than 11,000 patients were screened over the course of 2019, with over 400 people linked to hepatitis C treatment in government hospitals and 23 as part of the DNDi clinical trial.

Photo credit: Suriyan Tanasri-DNDi