Vicki Reid, right, holds a likeness of John Martin, who was then CEO of the pharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences. Reid and others were protesting high drug prices in front of the conference on retroviruses and opportunistic infections — a meeting held at the World Congress Center in Atlanta in March 2013. John Amis/AP Images for AIDS Healthcare Foundation hide caption
Indiana State Health Commissioner Dr. Jerome Adams is President Trump's nominee for U.S. Surgeon General. Darron Cummings/AP hide caption
Used syringes rest in a pile at a needle exchange clinic in St. Johnsbury, Vt. The CDC says needle exchanges like this one, where users can obtain clean needles, help reduce the rates of death and transmission among those suffering from hepatitis C. Spencer Platt/Getty Images hide caption
In two recent clinical trials of Harvoni and Sovaldi in the treatment of young people between the ages of 12 and 17, the drugs eliminated all traces of the hepatitis C virus in 97 to 100 percent of patients, generally in 12 weeks. Lloyd Fox/Baltimore Sun/TNS via Getty Images hide caption
Gilead Sciences' Harvoni can cure hepatitis C, but the drug costs a fortune. Lloyd Fox/Baltimore Sun/TNS via Getty Images hide caption
Army Specialist Jim McGough with members of his unit in 1971. Then 19, he was photographed by a columnist from The Des Moines Register. Gordon Gammack/The Des Moines Register hide caption
New drugs like Harvoni effectively cure hepatitis C, but they haven't yet been approved for use in children. Lloyd Fox/Baltimore Sun/TNS via Getty Images hide caption
Kanu, 13, is treated for hepatitis at a hospital in Thailand. Paula Bronstein/Getty Images hide caption
Harvoni can cure hepatitis C, but the drug costs a fortune. Are loans to patients the answer? Lloyd Fox/Baltimore Sun/TNS via Getty Images hide caption
Gilead Sciences' new drug Sovaldi effectively cures hepatitis C, but the price is straining state budgets. Eric Risberg/AP hide caption
A 12-week regimen of Harvoni is 90 percent effective in curing an infection with hepatitis C, doctors say. It also costs about $95,000. Baltimore Sun/TNS via Getty Images hide caption
Sovaldi can cure hepatitis C, but the medicine carries a list price of $1,000 a pill. The typical 12-week course of treatment would cost $84,000. Bob Ecker/MCT/Landov hide caption
A recent analysis by the Kaiser Family Foundation finds that Medicare recipients taking Revlimid for cancer could end up paying, on average, $11,538 out of pocket for the drug in 2016, even if the medicine is covered by their Medicare Part D plan. Carmine Galasso/MCT/Landov hide caption
Harvoni is one of the new medications for hepatitis C that can cure almost all infections. Lloyd Fox/TNS/Landov hide caption
Retired California school teacher Mikkel Lawrence sits with his cat, Max. Lawrence has hepatitis C and has struggled to afford the medicine he needs to treat it. April Dembosky/KQED hide caption