Syndicate of pharmacists taking legal action against Health Ministry because of Sovaldi

The syndicate of pharmacists is taking legal action against the Health Ministry for what it calls violations in importing the new HCV treatment, Sovaldi.
The board of the syndicate Tuesday pointed to violations in the contract between the Health Ministry and US pharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences.
The syndicate said there was lack of transparency and information as far as negotiations to import the drug are concerned.
The syndicate had asked the Health Ministry to keep it updated with details about the drug registry, pricing and distribution.
It cited article 68 of the 2014 constitution, which entails that information, data, statistics and official documents are owned by the people and should be made known to the public.
The Health Ministry had accepted all demands of the US company when it could have negotiated optional manufacturing of the drug at state owned companies, especially that HCV is endemic in Egypt, the syndicate said.
This way it could guarantee the drug is produced in sufficient quantities and at reasonable price, the syndicate added.
Instead, the Health Ministry sealed a deal to import 225,000 packages of the drug enough to treat only 50,000 cases of a total of 12 million HCV patients, the syndicate said, adding that 150,000 cases are living below poverty line and cannot possibly afford to pay 14,940 pounds per package.