Friday, September 8, 2017
News Recap:
She thought her mystery ailment was cancer, but bloodwork revealed a surprise
This is an amazing story ...but it could happen to anyone, and we know this because we hear these kinds of stories often. This is why it is so important that Boomers be tested for hepatitis C. Gail Wells got really sick and nobody could figure out why. They looked for cancer, for multiple sclerosis, for vitamin deficiencies, and then s...
A new study indicates that direct-acting antiviral therapy is safe and effective in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) and Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. The study, which appears in an upcoming issue of the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (CJASN), also found that treatment may help improve some patients' kidney function.
HCV infection—which often causes liver disease—is common in patients with CKD, and it increases their
Note from CD: Woke up to this new report this morning and almost got hysterical. Whatever the financial/political motivation behind this report, I know I speak for many others in the HCV community (patients and physicians) who KNOW that this is NOT TRUE. While, unfortunately, some with late-stage disease although they have cleared the virus have not improved (because they were treated too late and too much damage was done), we know that the DAAs work, re
Friday, March 24, 2017
News Recap
Well, if you've been up to our site and seen the daily news posts you will have seen that new drug access policies have now come into effect in BC and Quebec, as well as Ontario. It looks like the slate is the same for these 3 provinces, and we are listing what's available in BC so you can make sense of it. For more information on the expanded access criteria in Quebec see here, and in particular the note from CD.
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Friday, March 3, 2017
News Recap
Top of the news is an upcoming conference/webinar to be held in Prince George that will examine the question: “Does care for hepatitis C in rural/remote areas differ from that in urban parts of our province, and if so, how?” On March 6th (11 am – noon), researchers from the BC Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC) will try to answer these questions. Núria Chapinal, PhD, an epidemiologist in BCCDC’s Clinical Prevention ...
Advanced stages of hepatitis C can lead to cirrhosis and liver cancer. Although direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) cure hepatitis C in over 90% of patients, the drugs don’t eliminate these advanced complications.
Italian researchers assessed the early occurrence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and the recurrence of the condition in patients with cirrhosis on DAAs.
As described in the Journal of Hepatology, the team analyzed 344 cirrhotic patients with...
Evidence of fibrosis was common in older patients with hepatitis C virus genotype 3 infection, indicating fibrosis progresses with age and this patient population should be treated as often and with the same medications as other severe HCV patient populations, according to data presented at the British Society of Gastroenterology Annual Meeting.
According to Keeley Fairbrass, of the Digestive Disease Centre, Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trus
SATURDAY, April 16, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Low-cost generic antiviral drugs are as effective and safe as more expensive brand-name drugs in treating people with hepatitis C, researchers report.
In many countries, people don't have access to a course of brand-name direct-acting antiviral drugs due to the high cost -- as much as $94,000 a patient, the researchers explained.
However, mass-produced generic versions are available for less than 1 percent...
The European health regulator said it extended a safety review of chronic hepatitis C treatments after new data showed patients taking the drugs were at risk of their liver cancer returning.
"The study suggested that these patients were at risk of their cancer coming back earlier than patients with hepatitis C who were not treated with direct-acting antivirals," the European Medicines Agency (EMA) said. (bit.ly/1MxDslL)
The review covers some of the
Apr 14, 2016
MADISON, N.J., April 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Quest Diagnostics (NYSE: DGX), the world's leading provider of diagnostic information services, today announced that it has expanded its chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) test services to include new capabilities to help physicians identify or predict resistance to several HCV therapies, including the recently FDA-approved Zepatier™, from Merck, and Daklinza™, from Bristol-Myers Squibb.
T...
