According to health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah, Malaysia is the first country in the world to approve the use of Ravida alongside other medication to treat HCV in adults.

The product was manufactured by Doppel Farmaceutici SRL in Italy, with Pharmaniaga Manufacturing Bhd as its local product registration holder, he added.

While the country was committed to eradicating HCV by 2030, Noor Hisham said, the cost of screening and current direct acting antiviral (DAA) medicines were expensive.

“There is a need to find alternative solutions with treatments that are effective and affordable,” he said in a statement.

Noor Hisham also said the health ministry had been working with the Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative (DCDi) since 2016 to reduce barriers in accessing hepatitis treatment in Malaysia.

He said the main outcome from this was the DNDi’s HCV clinical trial, known as STORM-C-1, conducted across six facilities in Malaysia and four in Thailand.

Findings from the trials were used as primary data for the product registration application, and were also published in ‘The Lancet Gastroenterology & Hepatology’ journal on April 15.