More than 200,000 Brits chronically infected with HCV

Around 214,000 individuals are chronically infected with hepatitis C (HCV) in the UK, national estimates from Public Health England (PHE) suggest.

Injecting drug use continues to be the most important risk factor for HCV infection in the UK with half of people who inject drugs (PWID) are thought to have been infected in England and Wales; levels are lower in Northern Ireland (23%) and higher in Scotland (57%).

However, across the UK, more individuals are being tested and diagnosed and  “over the last five years particular improvements have been seen in primary care where surveillance indicates that testing has risen by 21%, 46% and 53% in England, Northern Ireland and Scotland respectively”, PHE’s new report Hepatitis C in the UK states.

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UK:Hepatitis C patients in England denied lifesaving liver drug

Health experts concerned about decision not to extend Daklinza treatment to patients with genotype 3 strain of virus

Thousands of people in England with a chronic form of liver disease are being denied access to life-saving drugs that are available to patients in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Despite being recommended by European regulators and available in countries such as France and Germany, draft guidance recently issued by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice), the body that advises NHS England on whether to fund certain drugs, recommends restricting the use of Daklinza in England. The stance will affect the treatment of adult patients with a particular strain of hepatitis C.

The move has dismayed health experts and liver disease charities who say it will mean a large subset of the sickest and most at risk patients in England will not receive the treatment they need to prevent them from potentially fatal liver failure or cancer.

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UK: NHS accused of delaying access to 'highly tolerable' hepatitis C drugs over cost concerns

The NHS has been accused by leading health charities of attempting to “severely limit” the introduction of new drugs to treat hepatitis C because they are too expensive – despite the cost of them being cleared by officials.

The organisations have called on the Health Secretary to intervene, saying that NHS England has made a series of “unprecedented requests” for patients’ access to new drugs to be delayed because of the price.

Yet Nice has approved the drugs as “cost-effective”, leading to a plea from 14 organisations and senior doctors including the Hepatitis C Trust, the National Aids Trust and The Haemophilia Society to Jeremy Hunt.

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UK: NHS England sets up new £190m hep C fund

NHS England is stumping up £190m to pay for new hepatitis C treatments from AbbVie and Gilead that are yet to receive full funding from the country's health service.

 
The NHS's main commissioning body said that the existing budget for these drugs would be increased to £190m - up from the £40m budget that began last year.

This is the NHS's single largest investment in new treatments this year (except for the £280m Cancer Drugs Fund), but comes after a long delay for this extra funding stream.

The money will go to the roughly 3,500 hepatitis C patients in England and Wales with cirrhosis of the liver, and will gain access by the end of this year to AbbVie's Viekirax, a three-drug combination therapy for the disease, and Exviera (dasabuvir), as well as Gilead's hep C pills Sovaldi and Harvoni.

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UK: NHS England accused of interference over hepatitis C drug

Officials at NHS England have been accused of interfering in a process to decide whether a drug which can cure Hepatitis C should be made available to patients on the health service.

Harvoni, which is a combination of two new generation hepatitis C drugs, is currently being appraised by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence.

But at a meeting at NICE on April 1, it is claimed that two senior NHS England officials reminded those attending that they had to take into account the cost to the health service when deciding whether to approve any treatment.

This is, in fact, not true. NICE does not focus on affordability but rather on cost-effectiveness.

- See more at: http://blogs.channel4.com/victoria-macdonald-on-health-and-social-care/nhs-england-accused-interfering-approval-hep-drug/3011#sthash.rkyi6yYa.dpuf

UK: Man given HIV and hepatitis from blood transfusion finally wins apology - but still fighting for compensation

Mark Ward was being treated for haemophilia as a teenager in the 1980s when he became one of thousands made ill from infected blood supplies 

 A man who was infected with HIV through a blood transfusion in the 1980s is demanding financial compensation after finally getting an apology from the Government.

Mark Ward said his life was destroyed when he tested positive with the virus at age 15 after receiving tainted blood at the Royal Free Hospital in North London.

Athough, at 45, he has outlived doctors' expectations, he grew up with a “death sentence” hanging over him, dependent on a daily dosage of drugs with no idea how long he will live.

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UK: NHS denies lifesaving drug to 5,000 patients it gave infected blood: Sofosbuvir has been approved by regulators but victims are STILL waiting for treatment

• Thousands of victims were infected by hepatitis C through imported blood 
• Breakthrough drug Sofosbuvir was approved by regulator NICE in January 
• But NHS England is delaying treatment for patients until at least August 

Thousands of patients who contracted a deadly disease through contaminated blood in the biggest scandal in NHS history are being denied a lifesaving drug.

About 7,500 victims are known to have been infected with hepatitis C in the 1970s and 1980s through imported blood products taken from high-risk donors such as prostitutes and prisoners.

A breakthrough drug called Sofosbuvir was approved in January by drugs regulator NICE and patients were told they would have to wait until April to get the ten-week course of tablets, which costs £45,000. 

But NHS England has decided on a further delay until August to ensure all patients have equal access to treatment.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-3075151/NHS-denies-lifesaving-drug-5-000-patients-gave-infected-blood-Sofosbuvir-approved-regulators-victims-waiting-treatment.html#ixzz3ZhNPqkvn

UK: Ten year drive to wipe out hepatitis C in Bradford

CASES of hepatitis C could be eradicated in Bradford by 2025, according to leading liver expert Dr Sulleman Moreea.

The consultant hepatologist at Bradford Royal Infirmary said the dream of wiping out the virus that could be affecting up to 4,000 people in the city really is "an achievable goal".

There are about 1,200 patients who have been referred to the hospital with Hepatitis C but the total number of people with it in Bradford is estimated to be between 3,000 to 4,000, according to Dr Moreea.

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UK: Amends must be made to the victims of the contaminated blood scandal now

AFTER decades of campaigning, the decision to hold a public inquiry into what has been dubbed the biggest treatment disaster in the history of the NHS was welcomed by the victims who were infected with HIV and hepatitis C through contaminated blood.

Last week it was a very different story as the publication of the final report was met with anger and accusations of a "whitewash".

The chair of the inquiry Lord Penrose, apportioned no blame for the tragedy and did not conclude that the infection of nearly 3,000 people in Scotland with HIV and hepatitis C from blood transfusions and products used to treat bleeding disorders could have been prevented.

But what the final report of the inquiry - which runs to five volumes - does document is a series of shocking revelations about the events which led to the disaster. The scale of the suffering is also laid bare with the harrowing stories detailed in the report - such as a mother who unwittingly infected her young son with HIV believing she was giving him the best treatment for haemophilia.

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The end of hepatitis C?

2014 will do down as a pivotal year in the fight against hepatitis C virus (HCV), a blood-borne infection that is thought to infect around 2.5% of the world's population - some 170 million people.

The availability of new, more effective therapies for hepatitis C virus have raised the tantalising prospect of being able to eliminate the infection on a global basis,  although there are still significant obstacles to overcome.

Viral hepatitis - which generally means hepatitis B and C - “kills more people every year than HIV, malaria and tuberculosis combined, but has not had the same level of resources committed to it,” according to Charles Gore, who is chief executive of the Hepatitis C Trust in the UK and president of the World Hepatitis Alliance (WHA).

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UK: Five former patients of HIV-scare dentist Desmond D'Mello test positive for hepatitis C

Five former patients of a dentist at the centre of the biggest recall in NHS history have tested positive for hepatitis C, it emerged.

Health chiefs wrote to 22,000 people treated by Desmond D’Mello urging them to undergo tests after he breached hygiene regulations.

The 60-year-old dentist was secretly filmed failing to wash his hands or change equipment between appointments at his practice.

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UK: Lesley Hughes now demanding apology for blood transfusion scandal blighting thousands of patients

At risk: Lesley Hughes who found out just last year she contracted hepatitis C from a blood transfusion. 

It was the blood that was supposed to give her life.

However, the 61-year-old says that blood has given her a death sentence after discovering just last year by chance that it infected her with the deadly virus hepatitis C. 

Last week the couple from the New Forest travelled to London where the issue was debated in parliament with MPs calling for a long-awaited national public apology and final settlement ahead of the results of a public inquiry into the scandal being published in March.

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UK: St Neots man calls for justice from contaminated blood inquiry after losing three family members

Tony Farrugia, 43, of Howitt’s Gardens, Eynesbury, is pushing for the scope of the Penrose Inquiry – a public inquiry into HIV and Hepatitis C infections acquired from NHS treatment with blood and blood products in Scotland – to bring justice to patients and their families. He said that it would still be relevant to his cause in England, as the blood was given to patients prior to the Scottish NHS being separated from England.

Mr Farrugia lost his father Barry and uncles Victor and David – who were all haemophiliacs – as a result of the treatment they were given with contaminated blood. The hereditary condition, which prevents blood from clotting, meant that they required the protein Factor VIII to be administered during medical treatment.

Unbeknown to the public, the NHS had sourced paid-for blood donations which were distributed by American suppliers and taken from communities with an increased risk of having potentially deadly infections, such as prison inmates.

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UK: Janssen will cover cost of unsuccessful hepatitis C treatment

NHS England will only have to pay for Olysio if patient clears virus 

The innovative 'pay if you clear' scheme marks a new way of dealing with the struggle for market access in the UK for pharma companies, with Janssen offsetting the cost of the drug if a patient remains infected after 12 weeks of treatment.

Olysio (simeprevir) is one of several new oral drugs that mark a major step forward in hepatitis C treatment, alongside Gilead Science's Sovaldi (sofosbuvir) and AbbVie's regimen combining Viekirax (ombitasvir/paritaprevir/ritonavir) and Exviera (dasabuvir).

Both Olysio and Sovaldi were this week recommended for NHS reimbursement in draft guidance published by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE).

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UK: Hepatitis C drug delayed by NHS due to high cost

The NHS is to delay the introduction of a highly expensive drug that can save the lives of people infected with the hepatitis C virus. The move by NHS England is unprecedented, because the NHS rationing body, Nice (the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) has approved the drug. Nice says sofosbuvir is cost-effective, because it is a cure for people who would otherwise run up huge NHS bills.

One in three people infected with hepatitis C will develop liver cirrhosis and some will get cancer. A liver transplant costs more than £50,000.

But NHS England appears to be balking at the bill for the drug, which would hit £1bn for every 20,000 people treated. Approximately 160,000 people in England alone are infected with hepatitis C, although fewer than half are aware of it.

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UK: Victims of contaminated NHS blood launch legal case

Three men who contracted hepatitis C from contaminated imported blood have begun a legal case in the UK to challenge the compensation scheme.

They say it is unfair under disability discrimination because other patients in the same scandal have more favourable terms.

A new parliamentary report says around 7,500 patients were infected by imported blood products.

The government said it was considering improvements to the support system.

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