Rules restricting access to hepatitis C drugs leave patients waiting

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Indiana’s HIV outbreak has generated more concern about another potentially deadly infection – hepatitis C.

But an I-Team 8 investigation has found Indiana’s poorest patients are being denied access to hepatitis C drugs that could potentially cure them.

State Medicaid programs have restricted access to the drugs like Sovaldi, Harvoni and Viekira. Instead of distributing the medications to all those infected, states have set up restrictions that require patients to have certain symptoms – including a fatty liver or liver scarring – before they can get treatment.

It’s not just Indiana – 31 other states require patients to show signs of liver scarring and have a specialty doctor prescribe the medication, according to a June article in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

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Cost in the way of a cure for hepatitis C

Christopher Cummins, 42, believes he contracted hepatitis C through blood transfusions at birth. Last year, his insurance paid for a $100,000 treatment that eradicated the virus.

Dee’s liver is scarred, but just a bit too healthy for her insurance to foot the bill for the new medications that cure hepatitis C more than 90 percent of the time.

The Butler County resident, who suspects she got the virus getting a tattoo, was recently told by her doctor to come back in a year.

John, a retired small-business owner from Washington County who was given blood in the early 1990s, was also denied the antivirals. Now, as he watches a friend grow weak from liver cancer, he fears he’s glimpsing his future.

An appeal to a pharmaceutical company is Jennifer’s last shot at treatment after the insurance company denied her three times. The 34-year-old office manager – who said she gave up her heroin habit nine years ago – can barely make it through the workday because of fatigue. 

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Man Gets Free Hep C Treatment

ALTOONA - A large drug company is now giving free medicine to a local man, denied treatment for a deadly disease. Mike Miller, from Bedford County, is  one of more than 100 patients in our region and millions in the United States with hepatitis C, a virus that leads to cirrhosis and liver cancer.

A few weeks ago, nurse Karen Brandt held up a stack of insurance company denials she received for Mike Miller , alone.

"I was dealing with so many shutdowns every time we tried to get hepatitis C medicine authorized and I started to think this is crazy I need to do something," she says.

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Pharma accused of restricting access to hep C drug in poor countries

New drugs for hepatitis C are a major breakthrough but hugely expensive in rich countries. Pharma giant Gilead will allow cheap copies to be made for poor countries - but only for patients with proof of identification and citizenship and the drug supplies will be closely tracked

The battle over access to the new hepatitis C drug, Gilead’s sofosbuvir (and similar drugs coming along behind) is hotting up. There is angst even in the richest countries over the $1000 a pill price tag. It now looks as though Gilead is going to extraordinary lengths to ensure that cheaper versions, which it is permitting generic companies to make for poor countries, do not arrive in affluent world pharmacies.

Gilead has agreed to grant voluntary licences to eleven Indian generic companies, which means the drug will be sold at a reduced price in low-income countries. But Médecins Sans Frontières, the volunteer doctors who are treating hepatitis C infection in some of the poorest regions, say the company has imposed unacceptable conditions.

Gilead stipulates that patients will only get the drug if they can provide identification, proof of citizenship and residency, which MSF says will penalise refugees and marginalised communities. The drug supplies will be closely tracked through codes on the bottles. Gilead, even though it will not be the manufacturer, will have access to that information. If they need more, patients will have to return an empty bottle.

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Doctors urge Hepatitis C patients to seek help now due to rising costs

INDIANAPOLIS - Doctors say many who have Hepatitis C don't know it.

There is a new cure, but in part, because of its high cost, insurance companies are looking to cut coverage.

Dr. Steven Norris with Community Health says new drugs to the market are a dramatic game changer for Hepatitis C patients who, until now, endured treatments with multiple side effects and a low 20 percent success rate.

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Expensive Hepatitis C Cure ─ Georgia Decides Who Gets It, Who Doesn't

There’s a new drug on the market that’s up to 99 percent effective at curing hepatitis C, an often deadly liver virus. The drug is known as “V-pak.”

Some Georgians will get it.

But thousands of HIV-positive Georgians, who also have hepatitis C, won't.

The reason? Cost.


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Access to Hepatitis C Therapy Listening Session with Community Stakeholders

Last month, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) convened a listening session on the important issue of access to curative treatment for hepatitis C virus infection. While the advent of more effective, second-generation direct-acting antivirals for the treatment of hepatitis C represents a tremendous scientific accomplishment and a potential public health triumph, community leaders and other stakeholders have raised serious concerns about barriers to treatment access. Many of these concerns had been expressed in a community sign-on letter sent to HHS Secretary Sylvia Burwell in early September 2014.

The listening session was hosted by the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health and led by Dr. Wanda Jones, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health. The Acting Assistant Secretary for Health, Dr. Karen DeSalvo, was able to attend the initial portion of the meeting, which took place at the Humphrey Building on December 9, 2014. Twelve stakeholders representing healthcare providers, advocates, persons infected with HCV, representatives of professional organizations, and national leaders from a variety of disciplines joined federal leaders from across HHS to share information about HCV treatment access barriers and their impact on people living with chronic viral hepatitis.

The stakeholders who attended the meeting were especially concerned about restrictions on access to the new HCV treatments put in place by payers, which, in the stakeholders’ opinion, do not appear to be medically justified. Listed below are three examples of restrictions, shared by the community stakeholders:

- See more at: http://blog.aids.gov/2015/01/access-to-hepatitis-c-therapy-listening-session-with-community-stakeholders.html#sthash.qDA29lEs.dpuf