Among barriers to HCV care, the ‘real challenge’ is getting treatment to patients in need

WASHINGTON — A special interest group session at The Liver Meeting focused on challenges in treating patients with hepatitis C virus, as well as disparities in access to care.

“What really became clear is that the real challenges we have in the field are bringing the excellent treatments we have to the patients who are most in need,” Tatyana Kushner, MD, associate professor in the division of liver diseases at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, told Healio in this video exclusive.

According to Kushner, Jennifer C. Price, MD, PhD, FACP, a speaker at the session and associate clinical professor of medicine hepatology and liver transplantation at the University of California, San Francisco, shared examples of her most complicated cases with HCV, demonstrating that all could be cured with currently available treatments. She also presented findings from her strategy to deliver testing and treatments at methadone clinics and other areas of need in San Francisco.