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Home » VA Appropriations Bill Passes Senate With Funding for HCV Treatments
VA Appropriations Bill Passes Senate With Funding for HCV Treatments
![Signing](https://www.fdanews.com/ext/resources/test/Drug-Images/signing.jpg?t=1620076341&width=430)
November 17, 2015
On the eve of Veterans Day, the Senate passed H.R. 2029, the fiscal year 2016 appropriations bill for the Department of Veterans Affairs, which awards $900 million for hepatitis C virus treatments.
The bill — which passed the Senate by a 93-0 margin — would fund newer HCV drugs that have higher cure rates than older medications.
That allocation comes at a time when makers of HCV treatments are being pressured about the steep price tags of their products. CMS issued a letter earlier this month to four drug companies that produce or sponsor HCV treatments — AbbVie, Gilead Sciences, Johnson & Johnson and Merck — seeking answers as to why these drugs are so costly.
The Senate and the House still have to agree to a common version of the bill before sending it to President Barack Obama, as the House-passed bill did not include funding for the HCV drugs.
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