VIDEO: Rapid HCV treatment increased engagement in care among PWID
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In this video, Nancy S. Reau, MD, FAASLD, AGAF, discussed a study presented at The Liver Meeting Digital Experience demonstrating the effectiveness of a rapid treatment model in engaging people who inject drugs in treating their hepatitis C virus.
In the study, researchers gave PWIDs a 7-day course of medication at the time that they tested positive for HCV antibodies. Although this strategy involved potentially supplying medication to patients who would ultimately not be viremic, the researchers found that the uptake with this rapid treatment model was much more successful than the usual process, which involves testing and linkage to care, in getting PWID engaged in curative treatment, according to Reau.
Reau noted that the patients also came back for refills, as they needed more medication to complete the 12-week course.
“[The researchers] did not find that there was a big drop-off, as you would expect in a population like that,” Reau said. “There was still some loss to follow-up, but when you’re treating individuals who are at high risk for transmission, we definitely take a sacrifice in overall sustained virologic response rates in order to engage this high-risk population in curative treatment.”
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