LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky's largest city is taking the lead as its first to offer a needle-exchange program, but other communities are reviewing such swaps as a way to combat heroin addiction, prevent the spread of diseases and steer drug users toward treatment.
Needle exchanges in Louisville will begin Wednesday in a trailer parked outside the city's Public Health and Wellness headquarters, health officials said Tuesday. The goal is to prevent the spread of HIV and hepatitis C and boost treatment among drug users.
"This is about the public safety of our entire community," said Louisville Metro Council member David Yates.
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Tuesday, June 9, 2015
Goodbye to the Boys on the Bus: How the VA Cured My Hepatitis C
They were a rough-looking crew, the boys on the bus. To be fair, practically no one looks great at 5:45 in the morning, the time you have to show up at the Veteran's Administration Outpatient Clinic in Redding to catch the van to Mather Medical Center in Sacramento. I say “boys” but occasionally a woman or two joined us, all of us veterans who for a variety of reasons choose the VA for our healthcare needs, even if it means occasionally riding the short bus 200 miles to see a specialist.
Most of us kept to ourselves, perhaps because the hour was early and talk would have inevitably turned to the illness that had earned each of us our seat. Cancer, lung disease and diabetes don't make for great breakfast conversation, especially if you happen to be suffering from one of those maladies and you're on the way to the doctor to find out how long you've got to live. Hepatitis C was my illness and I've never been keen to share that information with anyone. Our silence was stoic, not uncomfortable.
Read more....
Most of us kept to ourselves, perhaps because the hour was early and talk would have inevitably turned to the illness that had earned each of us our seat. Cancer, lung disease and diabetes don't make for great breakfast conversation, especially if you happen to be suffering from one of those maladies and you're on the way to the doctor to find out how long you've got to live. Hepatitis C was my illness and I've never been keen to share that information with anyone. Our silence was stoic, not uncomfortable.
Read more....
Curing Hard-to-Treat Hepatitis C
In a new video, NIH researchers and their colleagues from health centers in the District of Columbia discuss efforts to improve treatments for hepatitis C, a potentially life-threatening viral disease that slowly damages the liver. NIH-sponsored clinical studies in the nation’s capital focus on identifying effective, safe, and convenient therapies for hard-to-treat hepatitis C patients, such as those who also have HIV.
US hepatitis C patients travel to India for cheaper Sovaldi versions
Patients in the US and Europe have struggled to get access to the drug after insurers and governments limited its use to the sickest patients to control costs
New York/Mumbai: This is how far one Express Scripts Holding Co. executive was willing to go to secure inexpensive versions of Gilead Sciences Inc.’s hepatitis C drug Sovaldi, unavailable to US consumers under federal drug import and patent laws.
His plan: Dock a cruise ship flying an Indian flag off the coast of Miami. Stock the ship with versions of Sovaldi sold in India for $83,000 less than the US retail price for 12 weeks of treatment. Ferry US patients to the boat and send them home with the potentially life-saving medicines at a huge discount.
The only wrinkle in his plan wasn’t the absurdity of a pharmacy benefit manager manning and operating a cruise ship full of drugs from India. The problem, after doing some quick research into the idea, was that it would probably violate US drug re-importation laws that limit the value of drugs brought into the country to $1,500—the price of one and a half Sovaldi tablets in the US, said Steve Miller, chief medical officer at Express Scripts, who came up with the idea.
Friday, June 5, 2015
Hepatitis C cases continue to rise in Northeast Tennessee
A recent Centers for Disease Control report shows an increase in Hepatitis C in our region. The report shows an increase in Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and Kentucky.
Health care providers have been discussing the increase for well over a year now to try to limit these numbers. One organization is even working on a pilot program to help educate the community and provide help for those who have tested positive.
"Northeast Tennessee and East Tennessee in general has among the highest rates of Hepatitis C in the country," Northeast Tennessee Regional Medical Director Dr. David Kirschke said.
Read more...
Health care providers have been discussing the increase for well over a year now to try to limit these numbers. One organization is even working on a pilot program to help educate the community and provide help for those who have tested positive.
"Northeast Tennessee and East Tennessee in general has among the highest rates of Hepatitis C in the country," Northeast Tennessee Regional Medical Director Dr. David Kirschke said.
Read more...
Patient Assistance, by Alan Franciscus, Editor-in-Chief
If you are having trouble with getting the medications? Try the patient assistance programs for the HCV medications:
- AbbVie 1-844-2proCeed
https://www.viekira.com/proceed-program - Gilead 1-855-769-7284
www.mysupportpath.com/ - Kadmon Pharmaceuticals (Keys Program) 1-888-668-3393 www.hcvadvocate.org/community/community_pdf
/Riba_CoPay_Cards.pdf - Moderiba Ribavirin 1.844.MODERIBA (1.844.663.3742) www.moderiba.com/patient-support/financial
- Needymeds.org 1-800-503-6897
www.needymeds.org - Partnership for Prescription Assistance 1-888-477-2669 www.pparx.org
- Patient Access Network Foundation 1-866-316-PANF (7263) www.panfoundation.org/
- Patient Advocate Foundation Co-Pay Relief 1-866-512-3861 www.copays.org/diseases/hepatitis-c
Thursday, June 4, 2015
Appalachia Gripped by Hepatitis C Epidemic, Bracing for HIV
Patton Couch shook his head and clenched his teeth, recounting the night four years ago when he plucked a dirty needle from a pile at a flophouse and jabbed it into his scarred arm.
He knew the odds; most of the addicts in the room probably had hepatitis C.
"All I cared about was how soon and how fast I could get it in," he says. "I hated myself, it was misery. But when you're in the grips of it, the only way I thought I could escape it was one more time."
Couch, 25 years old and one month sober, is one of thousands of young Appalachian drug users recently diagnosed with hepatitis C. Yet public health officials warn that it could get much worse.
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