Ireland: UP to 80 seriously ill Hepatitis C patients have cleared virus from their blood

New treatment was given to the patients after doctors warned they were not responding to other drugs.

The treatment, which costs around €45,000 to €55,000 per patient was given to the patients after doctors warned they were not responding to other drugs.

Dr Suzanne Norris, a gastroenterologist at St James's Hospital in Dublin, said the patients will continue to be monitored over the coming months to determine their response.

Earlier this year Health Minister Leo Varadkar said a programme was being put in place to provide early access to the powerful new direct-acting anti-viral drugs for Hepatitis C patients with the greatest clinical need, due to the advanced nature of their condition.

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Jackson County, IN: ‘There is a significant increase in hepatitis C’

As a result of increased HIV testing in southeastern Indiana due to the large outbreak of the viral disease linked to injectable drug use, health officials in Jackson County say there is a significant increase in hepatitis C being reported in the county.  In fact, more than 50 cases of the disease are currently being investigated, approximately 10 times the number of cases reported in a month.

The Seymour Tribune reports: The increase is being attributed to the ongoing HIV outbreak in southeast Indiana, centered in nearby Scott County. That health emergency has caused many people to seek free HIV testing which has led to more Hepatitis C being diagnosed too, said Lin Montgomery, public health coordinator with the Jackson County Health Department.

On Thursday, Indiana Governor Mike Pence declared a public health disaster emergency for Scott County.

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New Hepatitis C treatments cost-effective, but only for selected patients, study shows

A study led by Boston Medical Center (BMC) researchers demonstrates that while new therapies to treat Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) are highly effective, they are cost-effective and provide the greatest value in specific groups of HCV-infected patients. The findings of the study, led by Benjamin P. Linas, MD, MPH, from BMC's section of infectious diseases and the Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM), are published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

The study focused on the combination of sofosbuvir and ribavirin for treatment of HCV genotypes 2 and 3, which account for approximately one quarter of all HCV cases in the United States. These medications were the first all oral combination therapy approved for the treatment of HCV. While this medication regimen is effective in curing more than 90 percent of patients, the wholesale cost of sofosbuvir is approximately $85,000 per treatment course, which has strained insurance budgets and led to treatment restrictions.

Using a simulation model, Linas and colleagues projected outcomes, costs, and cost-effectiveness of sofosbuvir-based treatments for HCV genotype 2 or 3 infection in the US. They found that at these costs, sofosbuvir-based HCV therapy provides excellent economic value in genotype 2 or 3 infected patients who already have advanced liver disease. It also is cost-effective for patients who have already previously failed treatment with other drugs.

Explore further: Cost-effectiveness of immediate HCV Rx in early disease analyzed

Journal reference: Annals of Internal Medicine

Provided by Boston University Medical Center

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New hepatitis C drugs are costing Medicare billions

Medicare spent $4.5 billion last year on new, pricey medications that cure the liver disease hepatitis C — more than 15 times what it spent the year before on older treatments for the disease, previously undisclosed federal data shows.

The extraordinary outlays for these breakthrough drugs, which can cost $1,000 a day or more, will be borne largely by federal taxpayers, who pay for most of Medicare’s prescription drug program. But the expenditures will also mean higher deductibles and maximum out-of-pocket costs for many of the program’s 39 million seniors and disabled enrollees, who pay a smaller share of its cost, experts and federal officials said.

The spending dwarfs the approximately $286 million that the program, known as Part D, spent on earlier-generation hepatitis C drugs in 2013, said Sean Cavanaugh, director of Medicare and deputy administrator at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

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Editorial | Needle exchanges

The alarming epidemic of HIV in Southern Indiana tied to intravenous drug abuse underscores the wisdom of Kentucky lawmakers who included an option for sterile needle exchanges in the comprehensive heroin bill they passed this session.

In Indiana, the surge of HIV cases among 80 people linked to tiny Scott County — population 24,000 — has attracted national headlines and caused Gov. Mike Pence, who has opposed needle exchanges, to reverse course.

Kentucky’s heroin bill was signed into law Wednesday by Gov. Steve Beshear and could result in many saved lives if communities take advantage of the option to offer needle exchanges through local health departments.

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Australia: World first trials for hepatitis C wonder drug in Sydney's maximum security jails

Two of NSW's maximum security jails are the location for a world-first trial of a new wonder drug that could stop the spread of the blood-borne disease hepatitis C through the prison populations.

Prisoners at the Lithgow and Goulburn jails are being recruited to take part in the treatment program, which it is hoped will eventually rid the institutions of the disease and potentially save the lives of thousands suffering chronic infections.

About a third of all prisoners in NSW jails are infected with chronic hepatitis C, which spreads rapidly through prisons by blood-to-blood contact including sharing of needles, syringes and other drug paraphernalia, tattoo equipment and from fights.

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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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