Two years ago I was diagnosed with hepatitis C.

It is a disease that can infect you for 20 years, causing cirrhosis of the liver. In the US it is a bigger killer than Aids.

The most prominent person to die from it here was Anita Roddick, who got it from an infected blood transfusion.

The traditional cure is Interferon-based. Interferon is an extremely toxic drug and like Anita I had to stop taking it.

Unlike Anita, I was fortunate in that a non-Interferon treatment had just come on stream. Sofusbuvir, an anti-viral, had been developed by Gilead Sciences, a US company.

It has a 90%+ success rate. I was even more fortunate in having gained access to a government programme, thanks to my consultant at the Sussex County Hospital, that funded 500 people nationally.

After three months I was cured, but the cost of the treatment is about £36,000. Each pill costs $1,000 even though it costs just $1 to make.

India has found one solution. It refused Gilead a patent and thus developed cheaper generic drugs. The drug was developed in part by publicly funded universities.

The same problem is arising with expensive cancer drugs, because our drug companies are also profit making industries.

The answer? If the NHS is too valuable to be put in private hands then the same applies to drug companies, which also avoid non-profitable areas of research (for example Ebola).

The Labour leadership contenders, who want to hug and embrace business, will scream blue murder but it is the only answer to the rising price of drugs.

  • Tony Greenstein is a political activist