I want to tell you about my grandfather.

His name was a sayon, he's the person from whom I got my last name.

He sold vegetables in a fish market in Alexandria, Egypt from the time he was in eighth grade,

fending for himself and his family after his own father passed away.

I remember watching him when I was young, hauling burlap bags full of potatoes with one

arm, heaving them on a truck.

My grandfather died of hepatitis C, a deadly infection of liver, the organ that purifies

your blood.

Epsi affects 71 million people worldwide.

It's one of the most common infections in the world.

It's a signlit killer.

It works slowly over time, hardening and destroying your liver through a process called fibrosis.

Until recently, Egypt had the world's highest prevalence of hepatitis C. One in 10 Egyptians

were infected.

Now it's on the verge of being eliminated altogether.

See, my grandfather died in 2004, but had he been able to hang on for just a few more

years.

He would have had access to an incredible life-saving drug.

But only if he'd stayed in Egypt.

In America, it's nearly 10 times as expensive.

A spectacular esolvaldi appears to be, so too, is its price tag.

Each pill is a thousand dollars.

...