Has Louisiana Cracked The Code to Treating Hepatitis C?

An Innovative Hepatitis C Elimination Plan

This summer, the Louisiana Department of Health struck a deal with a Asegua Therapeutics, a subsidiary of pharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences Inc., to get unlimited access to a generic drug called Epclusa that cures 98 percent of Hepatitis C cases. The state will use the drug to treat patients in Medicare and in the Department of Corrections. In return, Louisiana will pay a set fee -- $260 million -- for access to the drug over a five-year period.