Inside STAT: A way to get inmates hepatitis C cures

The high cost of drugs to cure hepatitis C and skyrocketing case numbers have limited the number of patients public agencies can treat. Perhaps nowhere is that more apparent than in the country’s jails and prisons, where about 1 of every 7 inmates has a chronic viral infection. In a new First Opinion for STAT, two experts outline a plan they say can greatly expand the number of patients getting the medications without correctional facilities blowing through their budgets. They argue that drug makers should extend what’s called nominal pricing — which provides deep discounts to safety-net facilities — to jails and prisons. Even with that model, they say, drug makers can still profit from selling the medications to correctional systems that otherwise wouldn’t purchase many doses. Read more here.