Australia: Lives Could Be Saved with New Hepatitis C Therapy

In a letter to the Medical Journal of Australia, a Monash University-led team is asking for hepatitis C virus patients to gain improved access to drugs to prevent liver related deaths.

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a major public health burden in Australia, with estimates of 230,000 people chronically infected.

The research team are calling for the government to subsidize a new therapy which has high cure rates, known as direct acting antiviral (DAA) therapy.

Read more ...

Australia: 'Like night and day' – calls for federal government to approve new Hep C drugs

Advocates in Canberra have called on the government to urgently subsidise new, advanced treatments for hepatitis C, saying each month they delay about 50 people die from the condition.

The Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee recommended on April 24 that three new antiviral medications, designed to treat hepatitis C, be considered for addition to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.

Canberra Alliance for Harm Minimisation and Advocacy manager Sione Crawford, who lives with hepatitis C, said the difference between the new and old drugs was like "night and day".

Read more...

Australia: More Australians with Hepatitis C hope new drugs will be approved by Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme

Nearly 250,000 Australians with Hepatitis C hope new drugs will be approved by the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS). 

Current medication can require 6-12 months of treatment and for many patients causes debilitating side effects like nausea, hair loss and depression.

Hepatitis Queensland spokeswoman Jodie Walton said while the available drugs had an 80 per cent cure rate, the emotional and physical cost was often too high.

She said the stigma associated with Hepatitis C meant many sufferers were reluctant to tell their family or work colleagues they were infected.

Read more...

Australia: The miracle cure with a billion-dollar price tag

It's been hailed as a miracle cure for hepatitis C – but comes with a billion-dollar price tag.

The Commonwealth government is under pressure to subsidise Sovaldi, produced by drug company Gilead, that has been approved by the Therapeutic Goods Administration but has been rejected for listing on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme on value-for-money grounds.

The Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee, the independent expert body that decides which drugs should be subsidised, will consider a second application to list the drug at its March meeting, along with applications to list three other new hepatitis treatments.

Read more...