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FDA approves first pill to treat all forms of hepatitis C

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Federal health officials have approved the first pill to treat all major forms of hepatitis C, the latest in a series of drug approvals that have reshaped treatment of the liver-destroying virus.

The Food and Drug Administration approved the combination pill from Gilead Sciences Inc. for patients with and without liver damage.

The agency has approved a number of hepatitis C drugs in the last three years, but all were targeted to specific strains of the virus or patients with various stages of liver disease.

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Epclusa, the new pill from Gilead, combines the Foster City, Calif., company’s first hepatitis drug, Sovaldi, with a new drug that attacks the virus using a different mechanism.

Gilead’s hepatitis pills have raked in billions of dollars by replacing an older approach that involved a grueling pill-and-injection cocktail.

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