Comment | Benefits of needle exchange programs

Hospitalizations and deaths due to heroin overdoses are on the rise in Kentucky.

According to the Kentucky Injury Prevention and Research Center, the number of Kentuckians hospitalized for heroin overdoses more than doubled from 2011 to 2012. In addition, deaths from heroin overdoses among Kentucky residents have skyrocketed from 12 in 2008 to 215 in 2013. Kentucky also has some of the highest rates of drug overdoses and acute hepatitis C infection in the nation.

This year, the General Assembly enacted and Gov. Beshear signed into law permissive legislation that enables local jurisdictions to establish needle exchange programs (NEP), also known as “harm reduction programs.” To some, a needle exchange may sound like a program that helps intravenous drug users feed their habit. To the contrary, the intent of an NEP is to protect public health and create a path for heroin users to get treatment while preventing the spread of diseases through the sharing of needles.

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Benitec Biopharma signs manufacturing deal for hepatitis C treatment

Benitec Biopharma (ASX:BLT) has entered into an agreement with Maryland-based Omnia Biologics to manufacture material for its current first-in-man clinical trial for its TT-034 hepatitis C treatment.

This ensures the company has enough clinical material to complete the current trial.

The company is also moving to establish its own scalable manufacturing process in collaboration with third parties to supply large markets it is targeting.

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Covered California Votes To Cap What Patients Pay For Pricey Drugs

"Starting in 2016, most people will only have to pay a maximum of $150 or $250 per prescription, per month. These caps are for Covered California's so-called silver and platinum plans. Bronze plans will have caps of $500."

In recent years, expensive specialty medicines used to treat cancer and chronic illnesses have forced some very ill Americans to choose between getting proper treatment and paying their rent.

To ease the financial burden, the California agency that governs the state's Obamacare plans issued landmark rules Thursday that will put a lid on the amount anyone enrolled in one of those plans can be charged each month for high-end medicine.

The agency says its rules, set to take effect in 2016, "strike a balance between ensuring Covered California consumers can afford the medication they need to treat chronic and life-threatening conditions while keeping premiums affordable for all."

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Canada: Personal-care worker struggles after contracting hepatitis C from client

The journey from the good life to bad started in the summer of 2011. Then, nearly 20 years into a career as a personal-care worker, Rowe took a client into her home for weekend care.

The non-communicative client cut herself in the bathroom and while a visiting nurse friend stemmed the bleeding, Rowe began to clean up.

“It’s summer, I’m in flip-flops and I’ve got cracked feet. I’ve got my gloves on, but they aren’t going to do anything for me.”

The client had hepatitis C and an unknowing Rowe contracted the disease.

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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

6 Things People With Hepatitis C Wish You Knew

You might know someone living with hepatitis C and not even realize it. 

Having a chronic hepatitis C infection can affect a person’s day-to-day life more than you may expect. Hepatitis C is the most common blood-borne virus in the United States, with more than 3 million people infected, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). But even with such high numbers, patients feel there’s a lot of misinformation about this infectious disease.

Here’s what people diagnosed with hepatitis C want you to know about their illness:

1. Hepatitis C is a serious disease. “You can’t put your head in the ground,” says Joe Benko, 64, an Army veteran from Allentown, Pennsylvania, who learned he had the virus while donating blood. “If you have hepatitis C, you have to be proactive and approach it. That’s the only way to get rid of it."

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As insurers limit access to hep C drugs, patients and doctors bristle

Doctors are finding themselves in tense situations as they try to prescribe new hepatitis C drugs to patients eager for a cure while health plans limit coverage to manage the costs of the medications.

Many health insurers have established prior-authorization criteria generally limiting access to the drugs to patients whose disease has progressed to at least Stage 3 fibrosis (just before the onset of liver cirrhosis).

The sticker prices of a course of treatment of the drugs range as high as $95,000. To mitigate the burden, major health insurers and pharmacy benefit management companies have entered special pricing agreements with Gilead for its new hepatitis C drugs Harvoni and Sovaldi or AbbVie for its competing drug Viekira Pak.

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