A group of doctors and patients in Tasmania has started an online scheme to bring potentially life-saving hepatitis C drugs into Australia at a more affordable price.

Acting like a Dallas Buyers Club, the group is importing the direct action anti-viral drugs in powdered form or as tablets, from countries like India, Bangladesh and China, where the patent for the drug does not exist.

In the film by that name, set in 1985, a man works around a complex bureaucratic process to get AIDS patients their medication.

As a result, the Tasmanian group said it was able to offer the drug for around $1,400 compared to the reported $100,000 per course of medication charged by pharmaceutical companies.

A similar drug has been used by a woman from Tamworth, NSW, who has recently been told she has been cured of the disease which plagued her for 28 years.

Buyers club helps patients have '100 per cent certainty'

Tasmanian GP and member of the 'buyer's club' scheme, Dr James Freeman, said the group's activities to manufacture the drugs themselves was compliant with legislation in Australia.

"There are a number of countries where the patent does not exist, so within those countries chemicals that are used within these medications can be made very inexpensively," Dr Freeman said.

"Under the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) rules, an individual is allowed to import 12 weeks of medication from overseas for their own use.

"So what we did was set up the notion of a 'buyers club' that helps people navigate a fairly complex and unfamiliar process, get the medication into the country, get it tested, and give them 100 per cent certainty that what they've got is the real deal."

Already saving lives says doctor

Sorry, this video has expired 'For the first time in 28 years I can look to the future': Hepatitis survivor Jane Kibble

He said the group was already saving lives.

"[We're] now running into hundreds we could claim cure on, and thousands on the treatment," Dr Freeman said.

He said a crowd funding campaign had begun to help people who could not afford even the reduced price of the medication.

The TGA said it was aware of the actions of Tasmanian doctors.

"The TGA continually advises consumers to exercise extreme caution when purchasing medicines from overseas, including internet sites, particularly if the supplier does not require a prescription which would be a requirement in Australia for that product," a spokesman for the TGA said.

"Products purchased from overseas or over the internet may contain undisclosed and potentially harmful ingredients, and may not meet the same standards of quality, safety and efficacy as those approved by the TGA for supply in Australia."