About 1,400 British Columbians have been treated for hepatitis C in the first four months since new anti-viral medications were covered by the province’s public drug plan — far above predictions.
The Ministry of Health expected 1,500 patients in the first full year for the pill-based medication.
Dr. Mel Krajden, medical head of hepatitis at the B.C. Centre for Disease Control, says the numbers reflect pent-up demand from patients seeking the latest treatments.
“A lot of people who are infected follow the literature on these drugs and they were waiting for the newer ones. It’s a whole group of people who realized these medications are more effective, better tolerated with fewer side effects and work over a shorter period of time,” Krajden said at a World Hepatitis Day event Tuesday in Vancouver.
- See more at: http://www.vancouversun.com/health/Hepatitis+treatments+skyrocket+after+pill+based+drugs+covered+plan/11249876/story.html#sthash.MT3sDoLJ.dpuf
Thursday, July 30, 2015
Canada: Warning to all baby boomers: get tested for Hep C
A Saskatoon nurse predicts a surge of liver disease among baby boomers due to undiagnosed Hepatitis C.
“We’re going to see this huge wave of patients with end stage liver disease that are going to be dying from, potentially, liver cancer, kidney failure due to issues with their liver, and this is now the beginning,” said Lesley Gallagher, a Hepatitis C treatment support nurse with the Saskatoon Infectious Disease Care Network in Riversdale.
“We’re seeing it now, and we’re going to keep on seeing it.”
The number of Canadians with advanced liver disease is increasing, according to a 2014 study published in the Canadian Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology. More than 20 per cent of those who are infected with Hepatitis C will have significant complications from their disease by 2035, the study found.
Read more...
“We’re going to see this huge wave of patients with end stage liver disease that are going to be dying from, potentially, liver cancer, kidney failure due to issues with their liver, and this is now the beginning,” said Lesley Gallagher, a Hepatitis C treatment support nurse with the Saskatoon Infectious Disease Care Network in Riversdale.
“We’re seeing it now, and we’re going to keep on seeing it.”
The number of Canadians with advanced liver disease is increasing, according to a 2014 study published in the Canadian Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology. More than 20 per cent of those who are infected with Hepatitis C will have significant complications from their disease by 2035, the study found.
Read more...
25th Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act — July 2015
Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR)
Weekly
July 31, 2015 / 64(29);777July 2015 marks the 25th anniversary of the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), signed into law on July 26, 1990, by President George H.W. Bush. ADA prohibits discrimination against persons with disabilities in all areas of their everyday lives, such as work, school, transportation, communication, recreation, and access to state and local government services. When first enacted, ADA defined a disability as a "physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more of the major life activities."(1)
During the last 2 decades, multiple national surveys measured disability in various ways because of substantial differences in the conceptualization and definition of disability. More recently, several national health surveys incorporated a recommended standard set of questions assessing functional types of disability.
In recognition of ADA's milestone anniversary, this issue of MMWR includes a report using the first data available on functional types of disability in a state-based health survey. It includes prevalence of functional disability using a standard set of disability questions rather than measuring disability in a nonspecific manner. This report presents the percentage of adults with any disability and with specific types of disabilities by state and key demographic characteristics (e.g., sex, age, race/ethnicity).
For more information on disability research and surveillance and state and national disability programs and resources, access the CDC's Disability and Health Branch, available at http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/disabilityandhealth/.
Reference
- Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, Pub. L. 101-336, 104 Stat. 328 (July 26, 1990) [amended January 1, 2009]. Available at http://www.ada.gov/pubs/adastatute08.htm
.
Wednesday, July 29, 2015
Merck Targets Toughest Cases to Gain Hepatitis C Foothold
Merck & Co. plans to target hard-to-treat hepatitis C patients with its cure for the liver ailment rather than compete for market share by drastically undercutting the price of Gilead Sciences Inc.’s $1,000-a-day treatment.
Merck said Tuesday that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration accepted its application for approval of the single pill, which combines the medications grazoprevir and elbasvir, and granted the medicine a priority review. That means Merck is on course to introduce the treatment to the market early next year.
The field for hepatitis C patients is currently divided between AbbVie Inc. and Gilead, which have locked up arrangements with the leading managers of drug coverage in U.S. health insurance plans, ensuring their medications are the first choice. Still, Merck doesn’t foresee trouble attracting patients.
Read more...
Merck said Tuesday that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration accepted its application for approval of the single pill, which combines the medications grazoprevir and elbasvir, and granted the medicine a priority review. That means Merck is on course to introduce the treatment to the market early next year.
The field for hepatitis C patients is currently divided between AbbVie Inc. and Gilead, which have locked up arrangements with the leading managers of drug coverage in U.S. health insurance plans, ensuring their medications are the first choice. Still, Merck doesn’t foresee trouble attracting patients.
Read more...
Tuesday, July 28, 2015
Canada: 'Get informed, get tested': getting the word out about hepatitis C
Steve Pollard came close to death, underwent two liver transplants, and received treatment with experimental drugs before he was clear of hepatitis C and began to get his life back. When he recovered, he vowed he would devote his life to raising awareness about the viral disease — known as the “silent killer” — with the hope of preventing others from going through what he did.
Pollard, 48, was one of the speakers at an event outside Ottawa City Hall on Tuesday to mark World Hepatitis Day.
His message: “Get informed, get tested and tell a friend or loved one to do the same. If you are not doing it for yourself, do it for them.”
Read more...
Pollard, 48, was one of the speakers at an event outside Ottawa City Hall on Tuesday to mark World Hepatitis Day.
His message: “Get informed, get tested and tell a friend or loved one to do the same. If you are not doing it for yourself, do it for them.”
Read more...
La FDA aprueba Technivie para el tratamiento de la hepatitis crónica de genotipo 4
La Administración de Alimentos y Medicamentos (FDA) de los Estados Unidos aprobó el día de hoy Technivie (ombitasvir, paritaprevir y ritonavir) para su uso en combinación con ribavirina para el tratamiento de las infecciones del virus de la hepatitis C (VHC) de genotipo 4 en pacientes sin cicatrización y funcionamiento deficiente del hígado (cirrosis).
Technivie en combinación con ribavirina es el primer medicamento que ha demostrado seguridad y eficacia para tratar infecciones con el VHC de genotipo 4 sin la necesidad de la coadministración de interferón, un medicamento aprobado por la FDA también utilizado para tratar la infección del VHC.
“La aprobación del día de hoy proporciona la primera opción de tratamiento para los pacientes con infecciones del VHC de genotipo 4 que no requiere el uso de interferón”, señaló el Dr. Edward Cox, director de la Oficina de Productos Antimicrobianos del Centro de Evaluación e Investigación de Medicamentos de la FDA.
La hepatitis C es una enfermedad viral que causa inflamación del hígado que puede dar lugar a una disminución de la función hepática o insufic
iencia hepática. La mayoría de las personas infectadas con el VHC no presentan síntomas de la enfermedad hasta que los daños en el hígado son evidentes, lo cual puede tardar varios años. Algunas personas con infección crónica del VHC desarrollan cirrosis a lo largo de varios años, que puede dar lugar a complicaciones como sangramiento, ictericia (coloración amarillenta de la piel), acumulación de líquido abdominal, infecciones o cáncer hepático. Según los Centros para el Control y la Prevención de Enfermedades (CDC), alrededor de 2.7 millones de estadounidenses están infectados con el VHC, de los cuales el genotipo 4 es uno de los menos comunes.
La seguridad y la eficacia de Technivie con ribavirina se evaluaron en estudios clínicos de 135 participantes con infecciones con el VHC de genotipo 4 sin cirrosis. Noventa y un participantes recibieron Technivie con ribavirina una vez al día por 12 semanas. Cuarenta y cuatro participantes recibieron Technivie sin ribavirina por 12 semanas. Los estudios se diseñaron para medir si el virus de la hepatitis C de un participante ya no se detectaba en la sangre luego de 12 semanas de finalizar el tratamiento (respuesta virológica sostenida), lo que indica que la infección por el VHC del participante se ha curado.
Los resultados demostraron que el 100 por ciento de los participantes que recibieron Technivie con ribavirina lograron una respuesta virológica sostenida. De aquellos que recibieron Technivie sin ribavirina, el 91 por ciento lograron una respuesta virológica sostenida.
La información de seguridad estuvo disponible para los 316 participantes con VHC tratados con la dosis recomendada de Technivie en combinación con otros medicamentos anti VHC en los estudios clínicos. Los tres medicamentos incluidos en Technivie también están incluidos en Viekira Pak, aprobado previamente para el tratamiento de la infección del VHC de genotipo 1. La información de seguridad adicional para estos medicamentos estuvo disponible en los estudios clínicos de Viekira Pak. Los efectos secundarios más frecuentes de Technivie con ribavirin fueron: fatiga, debilidad (astenia), náuseas, insomnio, picazón (prurito) y otras reacciones de la piel.
Technivie se acompaña de una advertencia que alerta a los pacientes y proveedores de salud que elevaciones de las enzimas hepáticas por encima de cinco veces el límite superior de la normalidad ocurrieron en aproximadamente el 1 por ciento de los participantes de los estudios clínicos. Las elevaciones ocurrieron más frecuentemente en mujeres que tomaban anticonceptivos que contienen etinilestradiol. Los anticonceptivos que contienen etinilestradiol deben suspenderse antes de iniciar Technivie. Deben realizarse pruebas de laboratorio de la función hepática durante las primeras cuatro semanas de iniciar el tratamiento y posteriormente cuando estén indicadas clínicamente.
Technivie y Viekira Park están comercializados por AbbVie Inc. con sede en North Chicago, Illinois.
Para obtener más información:
- FDA: Medicamentos aprobados: Preguntas y respuestas (en inglés)
- FDA: Innovación de medicamento (en inglés)
- FDA: ¿Que hay de nuevo en la FDA en Hepatitis? (en inglés)
- CDC: Hepatitis C: Información para el público
La FDA, una agencia del Departamento de Salud y Servicios Sociales de los EE. UU. protege la salud pública asegurando la protección, eficacia y seguridad de los medicamentos tanto veterinarios como para los seres humanos, las vacunas y otros productos biológicos destinados al uso en seres humanos, así como de los dispositivos médicos. La agencia también es responsable de la protección y seguridad de nuestro suministro nacional de alimentos, los cosméticos, los suplementos dietéticos, los productos que emiten radiación electrónica, así como de la regulación de los productos de tabaco.
Organizations in California Launch Campaign to Encourage Primary Care Clinicians to Screen Patients for Hepatitis C
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contacts:
In Honor of World Hepatitis Day Organizations in California Launch Campaign to Encourage Primary Care Clinicians to Screen Patients for Hepatitis C
(San Francisco, CA, July 28, 2015) – Today the California Academy of Family Physicians, California Hepatitis Alliance (a program of Project Inform) and the National Viral Hepatitis Roundtable launch the “California Hepatitis C Clinicians’ Honor Roll” campaign. The Honor Roll recognizes clinicians who sign a pledge to screen their adult patients for hepatitis C in accordance with the United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) guidelines. To view the USPSTF hepatitis C screening guidelines, visit: http://www.uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org/uspstf/uspshepc.htm
According to the California Department of Public Health, 750,000 Californians are living with hepatitis C. Because this contagious liver disease often remains asymptomatic for years and many providers and patients commonly overlook testing, the vast majority of individuals are unaware that they are infected.
Karen Smith, MD, MPH, Director of the California Department of Public Health notes, “The best tools we have to reduce the human and economic costs of hepatitis C in California are to prevent new infections, screen people at risk, and link those who are infected to care.”
The USPSTF recommends hepatitis C screening for:
“Hepatitis C is a devastating disease. Unfortunately, the majority of people with hepatitis C do not even know they are infected,” states Ron Chapman, MD, MPH, family physician and past director and state health officer for the California Department of Public Health. ”Family doctors, primary care, and other physicians and care team members have a critical role to play to identify these people and save their lives.”
Hepatitis C is the leading cause of catastrophic liver damage, cirrhosis, liver cancer, and liver transplants, and hepatocellular carcinoma is the fastest growing cancer in the United States. While the virus remain undetected, causing potentially life-threatening liver damage, individuals can unknowingly transmit the disease to others. California clinicians can stop this silent epidemic.
This Honor Roll campaign is conducted in partnership with the California Academy of Physician Assistants Foundation, California Department of Public Health, California Medical Association Foundation, Network of Ethnic Physician Organizations and San Francisco Medical Society.
For more information about the Honor Roll campaign, visit http://www.familydocs.org/world-hepatitis-c-day-july-28
###
The California Academy of Family Physicians (CAFP) is the only organization solely dedicated to advancing the specialty of family medicine in the state. Since 1948, CAFP has championed the cause of family physicians and their patients. CAFP is critically important to primary care. With a strong collective voice of more than 9,200 family physician, family medicine resident and medical student members, the CAFP is the largest primary care medical society in California and the largest chapter of the American Academy of Family Physicians. We focus on family physicians’ professional challenges and health policy concerns through advocacy and education to expand access to high-quality and cost-effective patient care for California. We are committed to helping family physicians improve their everyday practice lives by offering affordable evidence-based continuing medical education, providing cost-saving practice management resources, delivering practical approaches to practice transformation, and fostering opportunities to promote the family medicine specialty and ensure a strong and healthy primary care pipeline. For more information about CAFP, visit www.familydocs.org.
Founded in 2006, the California Hepatitis Alliance (CalHEP), a program of Project Inform (www.projectinform.org), is an alliance of more than 100 organizations dedicated to reducing the scope and consequences of the hepatitis B and C epidemics, which disproportionately affect California’s ethnic communities and the socioeconomically underserved. CalHEP includes among its membership public health organizations, community-based organizations, clinics and health care agencies, county hepatitis task forces, and others committed to viral hepatitis prevention, care, advocacy, and education. Committed to culturally competent public education and awareness, CalHEP’s work focuses on advocating for sound policies; promoting evidence-based education; and broadening access to services. For more information about CalHEP, visit www.calhep.org.
The National Viral Hepatitis Roundtable (NVHR) is a broad coalition working to fight, and ultimately end, the hepatitis B and hepatitis C epidemics. We seek an aggressive response from policymakers, public health officials, medical and health care providers, the media, and the general public through our advocacy, education, and technical assistance. NVHR believes an end to the hepatitis B and C epidemics is within our reach and can be achieved through addressing stigma and health disparities, removing barriers to prevention, care and treatment, and ensuring respect and compassion for all affected communities. For more information about NVHR, visit www.nvhr.org.
Source: http://us5.campaign-archive1.com/?u=9dd22df1cf3a741391755d010&id=7928f2321c&e=227fe74971
Media Contacts:
| Ryan Clary National Viral Hepatitis Roundtable 202-407-2391 rclary@nvhr.org | Shelly Rodrigues, CAE, FACEHP California Academy of Family Physicians 415-345-8667, ext 228 srodrigues@familydocs.org |
In Honor of World Hepatitis Day Organizations in California Launch Campaign to Encourage Primary Care Clinicians to Screen Patients for Hepatitis C
(San Francisco, CA, July 28, 2015) – Today the California Academy of Family Physicians, California Hepatitis Alliance (a program of Project Inform) and the National Viral Hepatitis Roundtable launch the “California Hepatitis C Clinicians’ Honor Roll” campaign. The Honor Roll recognizes clinicians who sign a pledge to screen their adult patients for hepatitis C in accordance with the United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) guidelines. To view the USPSTF hepatitis C screening guidelines, visit: http://www.uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org/uspstf/uspshepc.htm
According to the California Department of Public Health, 750,000 Californians are living with hepatitis C. Because this contagious liver disease often remains asymptomatic for years and many providers and patients commonly overlook testing, the vast majority of individuals are unaware that they are infected.
Karen Smith, MD, MPH, Director of the California Department of Public Health notes, “The best tools we have to reduce the human and economic costs of hepatitis C in California are to prevent new infections, screen people at risk, and link those who are infected to care.”
The USPSTF recommends hepatitis C screening for:
- Adults born between 1945 through 1965
- Anyone with past or current history of injecting drugs
- Anyone who received a blood transfusion before 1992
- Long-term hemodialysis patients
- Anyone born to a mother infected with hepatitis C
- Anyone with a history of incarceration
- Anyone with past or current history of intranasal drug use (snorting drugs)
- Anyone who has received a tattoo from an unregulated source
- Anyone with other percutaneous exposures to blood
“Hepatitis C is a devastating disease. Unfortunately, the majority of people with hepatitis C do not even know they are infected,” states Ron Chapman, MD, MPH, family physician and past director and state health officer for the California Department of Public Health. ”Family doctors, primary care, and other physicians and care team members have a critical role to play to identify these people and save their lives.”
Hepatitis C is the leading cause of catastrophic liver damage, cirrhosis, liver cancer, and liver transplants, and hepatocellular carcinoma is the fastest growing cancer in the United States. While the virus remain undetected, causing potentially life-threatening liver damage, individuals can unknowingly transmit the disease to others. California clinicians can stop this silent epidemic.
This Honor Roll campaign is conducted in partnership with the California Academy of Physician Assistants Foundation, California Department of Public Health, California Medical Association Foundation, Network of Ethnic Physician Organizations and San Francisco Medical Society.
For more information about the Honor Roll campaign, visit http://www.familydocs.org/world-hepatitis-c-day-july-28
###
The California Academy of Family Physicians (CAFP) is the only organization solely dedicated to advancing the specialty of family medicine in the state. Since 1948, CAFP has championed the cause of family physicians and their patients. CAFP is critically important to primary care. With a strong collective voice of more than 9,200 family physician, family medicine resident and medical student members, the CAFP is the largest primary care medical society in California and the largest chapter of the American Academy of Family Physicians. We focus on family physicians’ professional challenges and health policy concerns through advocacy and education to expand access to high-quality and cost-effective patient care for California. We are committed to helping family physicians improve their everyday practice lives by offering affordable evidence-based continuing medical education, providing cost-saving practice management resources, delivering practical approaches to practice transformation, and fostering opportunities to promote the family medicine specialty and ensure a strong and healthy primary care pipeline. For more information about CAFP, visit www.familydocs.org.
Founded in 2006, the California Hepatitis Alliance (CalHEP), a program of Project Inform (www.projectinform.org), is an alliance of more than 100 organizations dedicated to reducing the scope and consequences of the hepatitis B and C epidemics, which disproportionately affect California’s ethnic communities and the socioeconomically underserved. CalHEP includes among its membership public health organizations, community-based organizations, clinics and health care agencies, county hepatitis task forces, and others committed to viral hepatitis prevention, care, advocacy, and education. Committed to culturally competent public education and awareness, CalHEP’s work focuses on advocating for sound policies; promoting evidence-based education; and broadening access to services. For more information about CalHEP, visit www.calhep.org.
The National Viral Hepatitis Roundtable (NVHR) is a broad coalition working to fight, and ultimately end, the hepatitis B and hepatitis C epidemics. We seek an aggressive response from policymakers, public health officials, medical and health care providers, the media, and the general public through our advocacy, education, and technical assistance. NVHR believes an end to the hepatitis B and C epidemics is within our reach and can be achieved through addressing stigma and health disparities, removing barriers to prevention, care and treatment, and ensuring respect and compassion for all affected communities. For more information about NVHR, visit www.nvhr.org.
Source: http://us5.campaign-archive1.com/?u=9dd22df1cf3a741391755d010&id=7928f2321c&e=227fe74971
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