Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is one of the main causes of chronic liver disease worldwide. The goal of HCV therapy is to eradicate the infection, which results in eliminating detectable circulating HCV after cessation of treatment, to prevent complications.

A prospective analysis was undertaken in the primary referral center in Turin. Throughout the use of questionnaries submitted to healthcare professionals, clinical and economic data from three different care pathways of HCV treatment were collected and processed. Costs were measured up to 8, 12, and 24-weeks treatment and based on time-driven activity-based costing (ABC) of the two main HCV treatments, Sovaldi and Harvoni. For the ABC analysis, three types of care pathways were considered, based on patient's clinical history resources used: patients treated for 8, 12, and 24 weeks. Gastroenterologists, pharmacists, administrative personel, and storemen were involved in the project. The aim of the analysis was to evaluate the organizational impact of the three different strategies for the treatment of HCV infection with Harvoni or Sovaldi and to estimate the differential cost.

The data indicates that shortening treatment from 24 to 12 weeks and from 24 to 8 weeks leads to a saving of EUR192 and EUR766 for both treatment strategies. When drug costs are also taken into account, the reduction of treatment with shortening treatment from 12 to 8 weeks leads to a saving of EUR15,252.77, a reduction of EUR60,691.07 from 24 to 8 weeks for Harvoni treatment. The reduction of treatment with shortening from 24 to 12 weeks for Sovaldi leads to a saving of EUR37,668.30. The paths of 8 and 12 weeks are those associated with fewer resources in terms of professional's time, costs relating to laboratory tests, and cost of drugs.

The reduction of the amount of time spent by healthcare professionals in the 12 weeks and in the 8 weeks strategies allows a reallocation of the resources employed.