THIS is apropos the news item`Hepatitis wonder drug inaccessible to patients` (Aug 4) and the editorial, `Hepatitis treatment` (Aug 6).

Ferozsons Laboratories Limited (Company) are the distribution partner for Pakistan for Gilead Sciences Inc, USA, for its registered drugs `Sovaldi``. Our company has established a network of local distribution points at 18 cities across Pakistan for patients to receive the drug. In all other cities, we supply the drug directly via TCS (at our own cost) to the patient`s doorsteps. This system has been set up at a significant cost to the company only to ensure that patients of Hepatitis C across Pakistan are guaranteed the supply of the genuine product direct from the company, and are able to benefit from the 15pc trade discount to its approved retail price of Rs.

38,000 per monthly treatment.

Sovaldi is a prescription only medicine.

We reiterate here that the medicine`s prescriber needs to be a duly qualified medical practitioner registered with PMDC and there is no requirement for any specific individual doctor to prescribe the medicine.

According to our data there are about 1,100 prescribers in Pakistan.

As for the prescription fee to the patient, it is a choice and privilege of the patient to seek prescription from a prescriber doctor of his preference. No instructions are imparted by the company to entertain the prescription from a specific individual doctor(s). A UAN number hotline (021-111-111-707) has been established for patients` benefit.

The impression that only one chemist is authorized to sell Sovaldi in Rawalpindi and that too only on the prescription from a specific private clinic is factually incorrect.

Baqar Hasan Director, Legal, Regulatory Affairs & HR Rawalpindi