“We are witnessing a revolution in the treatment of hepatitis C virus...There is no question that these treatments that can save millions of lives must be made universally available at an affordable price.” -Pr. Françoise Barré-Sinoussi, 2008 Nobel Laureate in Medicine 185 million people across the world are infected with HCV [hepatitis C virus]; 150 million are chronically infected. The HCV pandemic is concentrated in middle-income countries...Worldwide, only a tiny percentage of people with HCV have access to treatment...New treatments...will offer a range of advantages...[including] higher cure rates...[but] their price will be out of reach of most of the people who need it...In Egypt, at a minimum price of USD2,000, the cost of [Gilead's] sofosbuvir alone for 100% of people with HCV would represent five times the country’s total 2011 public health expenditures...If...[no currently proposed pricing] strategies ...are good in terms of access...the use of TRIPS flexibilities has shown great results for opening access and reducing [HIV] drug prices. [also refers to Bristol-Myers Squibb, Abbvie, Janssen (part of Johnson & Johnson]