CAIRO: Health minister Adel Adwy announced that the U.S. Congress decided to give the ministry $35 million to help eliminate hepatitis C from Egypt, Youm7 reported Saturday night.
Adwy said that Egypt can completely eliminate HCV within 10 years, adding that the real partnership with international bodies doesn’t aim only for treatment, but prevention.
Egypt has the highest hepatitis C infection rate in the world, according to the WHO. Last year the government began a program to distribute the American-made treatment Sovaldi at an extreme discount offered by the manufacturer, Gilead.
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Monday, March 9, 2015
Friday, March 6, 2015
David E. Miller: New hepatitis C treatments save lives, reduce expensive complications
"If Illinois expands access to new hepatitis C medicines, it not only will save lives and relieve untold patient suffering, it dramatically will reduce long-term health care costs resulting from this awful disease."
After decades of research and clinical trials, we have new cures for hepatitis C, the most prevalent and deadliest blood-borne viral disease in the United States.
Until now, hepatitis C treatments have been long, painful and even life-threatening, with low cure rates of 40 to 65 percent. Consequently, up to 85 percent of patients discontinue treatment before they finish.
Still, the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services set tight restrictions on innovative hepatitis C treatments. Only patients with the highest degree of liver damage who meet a set of 25 criteria can have access.
- See more at: http://www.sj-r.com/article/20150305/OPINION/150309693/2011/OPINION#sthash.e3ELmAZa.dpuf
Living with hepatitis C is tough so I give my mobile number to patients
"I’m a semi-retired specialist nurse and don’t mind if people call when they need reassurance or a friendly voice."
I work one day a week as a hepatitis nurse specialist. I didn’t start my nursing career until I was 36 because there wasn’t a training college in the Bahamas where I lived.
I have spent 30 years at Mount Vernon hospital but reduced my hours to look after my husband who was diagnosed with motor neurone disease.
I still felt I had something to offer after he passed away and put the word out to colleagues. Someone mentioned hepatitis and I thought, why not?
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NIH-Led Study to Assess Community-Based Hepatitis C Treatment in Washington, D.C.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, March 6, 2015
Officials from the National Institutes of Health and the city of Washington, D.C., launched a clinical trial to examine whether primary care physicians and other health care providers, such as nurse practitioners and physician assistants, can use a new antiviral therapy as effectively as specialist physicians to treat people with hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. The trial, which will involve 600 adult D.C. residents infected with HCV alone or co-infected with HCV and HIV, also will examine the long-term effects of the treatment.
More than 3 million people in the United States are infected with HCV. If left untreated, the infection can lead to cirrhosis (liver scarring), liver cancer and eventual liver failure. Chronic HCV infections contribute to thousands of deaths each year, and hepatitis C is a leading cause of death for people co-infected with HIV. In the United States, hepatitis C infection is largely centered in urban areas and disproportionately affects minority, low-income and marginalized populations, such as the homeless and people who inject drugs.
In the past, hepatitis C treatment involved long-term use of oral and injectable medications, some of which had unpleasant side effects, including flu-like symptoms and depression. Because of the complexity of these regimens, hepatitis C treatment has largely been provided by specialist physicians, such as infectious disease specialists and hepatologists. New oral direct-acting antiviral drugs may offer more effective, shorter-duration, curative treatments. In October 2014, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved a new, once-daily antiviral drug for treatment of hepatitis C infection that combines ledipasvir and sofosbuvir (trade name Harvoni). Gilead Sciences, based in Foster City, California, manufactures the drug and is providing it free-of-charge for use in the ASCEND study.
“The recent advent of direct-acting antiviral medications has offered promising new treatment options for people who are chronically infected with hepatitis C,” said NIAID Director Anthony S. Fauci, M.D. “These therapies have yielded high cure rates in clinical trials led by specialized care teams. The ASCEND study will help determine whether these medications are similarly effective when administered in an urban, community-based setting.”
Led by principal investigator Henry Masur, M.D., chief of the NIH Clinical Center’s Critical Care Medicine Department, and lead associate investigator Sarah Kattakhuzy, M.D., of the University of Maryland’s Institute of Human Virology, the Phase 4 (post-marketing) ASCEND study aims to enroll approximately 600 D.C. clinic patients with HCV infections or HCV and HIV co-infections. Of those enrolled, 350 participants will continue treatment with their current specialist, and 250 participants will be assigned to a primary care physician, physician assistant or nurse practitioner for treatment. All participants will take a daily pill of combination ledipasvir (90 milligrams) and sofosbuvir (400 milligrams) for two to six months. Study volunteers will be treated at 11 D.C.-based clinics operated by Unity Health Care, Inc., and one D.C. clinic run by Family and Medical Counseling Services. Both D.C. health care organizations are active collaborators in the D.C. Partnership for HIV/AIDS Progress.
Participants will be monitored over a 10-year period for short-term and long-term treatment outcomes, including viral response to the drug and evidence of liver damage. The researchers aim to determine whether the type of health care provider administering the treatment influences outcomes. They also will assess the safety of the drug, how well it is tolerated and whether there are differences in outcomes for people infected with both HCV and HIV compared with those with HCV alone. According to the investigators, this study will help advance scale-up of the use of direct-acting antivirals for elimination of chronic HCV infections in certain at-risk groups. The ASCEND study is expected to be completed in 2025.
“This study demonstrates the benefit that research can have on the community,” Dr. Masur said. “NIH, community clinics and the D.C. Department of Health are working collaboratively to reduce the impact of a lethal viral disease, hepatitis C, on the population of our nation’s capital.”
More information about the Study to Assess Community-based Treatment of Chronic Hepatitis C Monoinfection and Coinfection With HIV in the District of Columbia (ASCEND) can be found at ClinicalTrials.gov using the identifier NCT02339038.
The NIH Clinical Center is the clinical research hospital for the National Institutes of Health. Through clinical research, clinician-investigators translate laboratory discoveries into better treatments, therapies and interventions to improve the nation's health. More information: http://clinicalcenter.nih.gov.
About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the nation's medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov.
Friday, March 6, 2015
Officials from the National Institutes of Health and the city of Washington, D.C., launched a clinical trial to examine whether primary care physicians and other health care providers, such as nurse practitioners and physician assistants, can use a new antiviral therapy as effectively as specialist physicians to treat people with hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. The trial, which will involve 600 adult D.C. residents infected with HCV alone or co-infected with HCV and HIV, also will examine the long-term effects of the treatment.
The study, called ASCEND, is co-sponsored by the NIH’s Clinical Center and National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), with additional support from the NIH Office of AIDS Research. The study is being conducted as part of the D.C. Partnership for HIV/AIDS Progress, a program that aims to reduce the burden of HIV/AIDS and associated diseases, such as hepatitis C, in the District of Columbia.
More than 3 million people in the United States are infected with HCV. If left untreated, the infection can lead to cirrhosis (liver scarring), liver cancer and eventual liver failure. Chronic HCV infections contribute to thousands of deaths each year, and hepatitis C is a leading cause of death for people co-infected with HIV. In the United States, hepatitis C infection is largely centered in urban areas and disproportionately affects minority, low-income and marginalized populations, such as the homeless and people who inject drugs.
In the past, hepatitis C treatment involved long-term use of oral and injectable medications, some of which had unpleasant side effects, including flu-like symptoms and depression. Because of the complexity of these regimens, hepatitis C treatment has largely been provided by specialist physicians, such as infectious disease specialists and hepatologists. New oral direct-acting antiviral drugs may offer more effective, shorter-duration, curative treatments. In October 2014, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved a new, once-daily antiviral drug for treatment of hepatitis C infection that combines ledipasvir and sofosbuvir (trade name Harvoni). Gilead Sciences, based in Foster City, California, manufactures the drug and is providing it free-of-charge for use in the ASCEND study.
“The recent advent of direct-acting antiviral medications has offered promising new treatment options for people who are chronically infected with hepatitis C,” said NIAID Director Anthony S. Fauci, M.D. “These therapies have yielded high cure rates in clinical trials led by specialized care teams. The ASCEND study will help determine whether these medications are similarly effective when administered in an urban, community-based setting.”
Led by principal investigator Henry Masur, M.D., chief of the NIH Clinical Center’s Critical Care Medicine Department, and lead associate investigator Sarah Kattakhuzy, M.D., of the University of Maryland’s Institute of Human Virology, the Phase 4 (post-marketing) ASCEND study aims to enroll approximately 600 D.C. clinic patients with HCV infections or HCV and HIV co-infections. Of those enrolled, 350 participants will continue treatment with their current specialist, and 250 participants will be assigned to a primary care physician, physician assistant or nurse practitioner for treatment. All participants will take a daily pill of combination ledipasvir (90 milligrams) and sofosbuvir (400 milligrams) for two to six months. Study volunteers will be treated at 11 D.C.-based clinics operated by Unity Health Care, Inc., and one D.C. clinic run by Family and Medical Counseling Services. Both D.C. health care organizations are active collaborators in the D.C. Partnership for HIV/AIDS Progress.
Participants will be monitored over a 10-year period for short-term and long-term treatment outcomes, including viral response to the drug and evidence of liver damage. The researchers aim to determine whether the type of health care provider administering the treatment influences outcomes. They also will assess the safety of the drug, how well it is tolerated and whether there are differences in outcomes for people infected with both HCV and HIV compared with those with HCV alone. According to the investigators, this study will help advance scale-up of the use of direct-acting antivirals for elimination of chronic HCV infections in certain at-risk groups. The ASCEND study is expected to be completed in 2025.
“This study demonstrates the benefit that research can have on the community,” Dr. Masur said. “NIH, community clinics and the D.C. Department of Health are working collaboratively to reduce the impact of a lethal viral disease, hepatitis C, on the population of our nation’s capital.”
More information about the Study to Assess Community-based Treatment of Chronic Hepatitis C Monoinfection and Coinfection With HIV in the District of Columbia (ASCEND) can be found at ClinicalTrials.gov using the identifier NCT02339038.
NIAID conducts and supports research—at NIH, throughout the United States, and worldwide—to study the causes of infectious and immune-mediated diseases, and to develop better means of preventing, diagnosing and treating these illnesses. News releases, fact sheets and other NIAID-related materials are available on the NIAID website.
The NIH Clinical Center is the clinical research hospital for the National Institutes of Health. Through clinical research, clinician-investigators translate laboratory discoveries into better treatments, therapies and interventions to improve the nation's health. More information: http://clinicalcenter.nih.gov.
About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the nation's medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov.
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NIH...Turning Discovery Into Health®
Press Release Source: http://www.niaid.nih.gov/news/newsreleases/2015/Pages/ASCEND.aspx
Women for Positive Action Launch a New Educational Tool on 'Hepatitis and Coinfection in Women Living With HIV' to Celebrate International Women's Day 2015
LONDON, March 6, 2015 /PRNewswire/ --
To mark International Women's Day (March 8, 2015), Women for Positive Action has launched a practical and informative new educational tool entitled 'Hepatitis and coinfection in women living with HIV'. Led by a global, multidisciplinary group of experts, Women for Positive Action is committed to addressing the specific concerns of women living with HIV. This new tool (download here) offers empowering information to coinfected women and practical guidance to those involved in their care.
In coinfected individuals immunosuppression exerts deleterious effects by greatly accelerating the occurrence of cirrhosis and liver cancer.[1] The complexity of treatment, the double stigma of coinfection and the perceived risk of side effects are all known to adversely affect the emotional wellbeing of patients,[2] and this can be compounded in many women struggling to balance work and family commitments.
"I have been struggling with HIV for years and when I finally got stabilised on HAART, I feared I would die from my liver because of hepatitis C. I failed HCV treatment two times and had to cope with unbearable side effects. Right when I was desperate that I would die from cirrhosis, I got cured thanks to the new HCV drugs - it was like being born a second time." A woman recently cured from HCV.
The HCV landscape has changed dramatically in recent years with the availability of treatments that cure a large proportion of patients[3]; but too often women from high risk groups are left behind. This tailored educational tool will help support those caring for coinfected women to provide practical guidance and respond to their needs on aspects such as treatment, emotional wellbeing, access to care and pregnancy planning. This tool also aims to raise awareness of women and their inclusion in research and access to care in this new era of HCV treatments.
Women for Positive Action is committed to exploring and addressing the challenges faced by women living with HIV and those involved in their care. For more information visit the website, http://www.womenforpositiveaction.org and keep up to date with activities through Twitter @WFPA_HIV.
Notes to Editor
130-150 million people globally have chronic HCV infection and up to 500,000 people die each year from HCV-related liver diseases.[4] Five million individuals are estimated to have HIV/HCV coinfection[4] so approximately 25-30% of those with HIV are coinfected with HCV.[5] Coinfection affects a large proportion of women living with HIV.[6] HCV is a rapidly evolving treatment area with a number of new therapies now available.
Visit http://www.womenforpositiveaction.org for information about ongoing projects. Women for Positive Action is an educational program funded by AbbVie. All content is independently generated by the Women for Positive Action faculty experts reflecting their knowledge and opinions.
References
- WHO. Hepatitis C Fact Sheet No.164, April 2014.
- Pereira M et al. AIDS Care 2014;26:56-64.
- Wendt A & Bourlière M. Ther Adv Infect Dis 2013;1:191-208.
- Operskalski E et al. Curr HIV/AIDS Rep 2011;8:12-22.
- Alter MJ. J Hepatol 2006;44:S6-9.
- Tremeau-Bravard A et al. Afr Health Sci 2012;12:312-317.
For further information please contact the Women for Positive Action Secretariat:
Email: WFPA@litmus-mme.com
Tel: +44-(0)20-7632-1924
Twitter: @WFPA_HIV
Email: WFPA@litmus-mme.com
Tel: +44-(0)20-7632-1924
Twitter: @WFPA_HIV
SOURCE Women for Positive Action
Press Release Source: http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/women-for-positive-action-launch-a-new-educational-tool-on-hepatitis-and-coinfection-in-women-living-with-hiv-to-celebrate-international-womens-day-2015-295303061.html
Thursday, March 5, 2015
Global Health Justice Partnership calls for action to lower drug prices
Yale’s Global Health Justice Partnership has released a report warning the international community that scientific discoveries will not be enough to prevent the over 500,000 deaths that occur every year from Hepatitis C.
Last week, in partnership with the AIDS policy think tank Treatment Action Group and the Initiative for Medicines, Access and Knowledge, which aims to increase access to medicines worldwide, the GHJP cautioned that despite the development of Sovaldi — a Hepatitis C drug, marketed since 2013, with a 96 percent efficacy rate in some patients — there are numerous remaining hurdles to ending the “silent epidemic” of Hepatitis C, especially in low- and middle-income countries. In their report, “Ending an Epidemic: Overcoming the Barriers to an HCV Free Future,” the four lead student authors advocated for legal, economic and political solutions to the challenge.
“The bottom line takeaway is that if you make a breakthrough, there is no guarantee that it will get to everyone,” said co-author Kyle Ragins MED ’15 SOM ’15 . “You need innovation in your intellectual property law, your financing and the way care is delivered.”
Read more....
Last week, in partnership with the AIDS policy think tank Treatment Action Group and the Initiative for Medicines, Access and Knowledge, which aims to increase access to medicines worldwide, the GHJP cautioned that despite the development of Sovaldi — a Hepatitis C drug, marketed since 2013, with a 96 percent efficacy rate in some patients — there are numerous remaining hurdles to ending the “silent epidemic” of Hepatitis C, especially in low- and middle-income countries. In their report, “Ending an Epidemic: Overcoming the Barriers to an HCV Free Future,” the four lead student authors advocated for legal, economic and political solutions to the challenge.
“The bottom line takeaway is that if you make a breakthrough, there is no guarantee that it will get to everyone,” said co-author Kyle Ragins MED ’15 SOM ’15 . “You need innovation in your intellectual property law, your financing and the way care is delivered.”
Read more....
State OKs new Hep C drug for Medicaid patients
Two drugs now available, but cost difference unclear
During the latter portion of 2014, Oregon officials and Hepatitis C patient advocates debated who would be able to receive a new, highly effective yet prohibitively expensive drug under the state’s Medicaid program.
Officials approved criteria that restricted the drug, Sovaldi, to very sick patients, with the caveat that they’d take up the issue again once new, perhaps more affordable drugs hit the market.
That appears to have happened sooner than expected. The director of the Oregon Health Authority, which oversees the state’s Medicaid program, the Oregon Health Plan, approved new criteria this month that permits some OHP beneficiaries with Hepatitis C to access a new drug: Harvoni. Hepatitis C is a disease that causes inflammation of the liver and can lead to liver failure or liver cancer.
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