28th of June 2015
After being on a high for the previous couple of days the flu really got a hold of me last night. The whole family has it, but it is that rare strain of flu known as Man Flu, which always effects men much worse than women. So I had a terrible night’s sleep, coughing my lungs up, blocked nose, the whole package. Poor me!
Another surprise, when I finally dragged myself out of bed and snuck out to steal the neighbor’s newspaper, was that the Sunday Tasmanian had run another article about Hep C. This time the article focused on the rejection of sofosbuvir by Australia’s Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS), meaning that Gilead’s Sovaldi will remain out of reach of most Australian Hep C sufferers.
The article also discussed Gilead’s response to growing international criticism of its pricing policies.
On that line of discussion I was informed by a well placed and reliable source that Gilead has hired a ’Crisis Manager’ to help deal with (suppress?) the growing news and social media backlash against them and the growing interest in getting generic sofosbuvir from India.
Within days of this crisis manager coming on board there were tangible efforts to influence the narratives on social media Hep C forums. Suddenly there were a raft of people warning about the dangers of buying generic medication from India. There were personal attacks on my integrity. Claims about scams and ’snake oil’ salesmen. All designed to create fear.
Of course the truth is a very different thing altogether. The truth is there that are numerous internationally accredited pharmaceutical manufacturers in India who are licensed by Gilead and who produce 100% safe and effective generic sofosbuvir and ribavirin that is being used and recommended by gastroenterologists and hepatologists internationally.
So I say again: Take control of your own health, don’t give in to fear, grab hold of hope and get yourself healed!!!
Our local paper heard about the good viral load results and the fact that Sovaldi had been rejected by the PBS again and did a story. Here is the link if you want to read it:
