Treatment for Hepatitis C looks to be a much easier pill to swallow -- literally.

The United States Food and Drug Administration has approved Sovaldi, a drug in pill form by Gilead Sciences that will allow at least some patients infected with the liver-destroying virus to do away with weekly drug injections that often have debilitating side effects.

"Today's approval represents a significant shift in the treatment paradigm for some patients with chronic hepatitis C," said Dr. Edward Cox, director of the FDA's office of antimicrobial products.

The greater convenience and effectiveness of the pill, however, won't be cheap.

Gilead has indicated the wholesale cost of Sovaldi, known generically as sofosbuvir, to be an estimated $28,000 for four weeks,or $1,000 per pill.

That further equates to $84,000 for 12 weeks, which is the typical recommended treatment period. Stronger stains of the virus could require double the treatment, 24 weeks for a total of $168,000.

Michael Weinstein, president of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, which runs treatment clinics in the U.S. and abroad and has previously clashed with Gilead on the price of its drugs for HIV, asserted the pricing for the new drug is unacceptable.

 "This is unbearable to the health care system and it is completely unjustified," Weinstein said.

The drug maker counters that the price of the pill is fair, considering Sovaldi's higher-than-average cure rate. The total cost of the 12-week regimen, Gilead continues, is "consistent with, and in some cases lower than" the cost of some other regimens for hepatitis C.

Gilead said some drug patients would be able to get financial assistance.

It's believed about 3 to 4 million Americans, many in their middle ages, have a chronic hepatitis C infection. But many may not know they have the virus.

Hepatitis C often produces no signs or symptoms during its earliest stages. Those infected will sometimes report generally mild flu-like symptoms.

Across the globe, an estimated 150 million people have hepatitis C, which slowly damages the liver, leading to cirrhosis and in some cases liver cancer. It often takes decades before any damage from the virus is detected, while many who have the condition never experience a problem.

Initial sales of the drug are expected to be strong because many patients, following the advice of their doctors, have put off starting treatment until Sovaldi hit the market.

Sovaldi was obtained by Gilead in an $11 billion acquisition of the smaller outfit Pharmasset, announced in 2011. As a result, Gilead has ended up in the lead of a highly-competitive race to develop all-oral treatments for hepatitis C.

AbbVie, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Merck, Johnson & Johnson are some of the other companies developing all-oral regimens for hepatitis C, which are expected to reach the market in the next one to three years.