Hepatitis C News

Under a final rule announced by HHS, drug companies that make prescription pharmaceuticals covered by Medicare or Medicaid, including those for infectious diseases, will have to begin including the list price of the medicines — also known as the Wholesale Acquisition Cost — in television ads if the price is $35 or more for a month’s supply or the usual course of therapy.

Although not currently licensed for patients undergoing dialysis for severe renal impairment, researchers found that treatment with Epclusa for hepatitis C was safe and effective in patients with end-stage renal disease.

Patients who received interferon-based antiviral therapy for chronic hepatitis C had a significantly lower incidence rate of Parkinson’s disease compared with untreated patients, according to an analysis published in JAMA Neurology.

Researchers found that widespread hepatitis C virus testing and treatment in prison, and linking patients not treated in prison to care upon release, is “cost-effective, but costly.”

Gilead Sciences Canada awarded a series of HCV Micro-Elimination Grants to 11 organizations focused on identifying individuals with hepatitis C in high-risk hard-to-reach populations throughout Canada and linking them to care, according to a press release.

Researchers identified a common polymorphism and a rare variant combination in hepatitis C genotype 3 that are responsible for a reduced response to Sovaldi, according to a study published in Gastroenterology.

My path toward the field of infectious diseases was a bit winding. My love for immunology began at a young age. I was inspired to become an immunologist by my father, a rheumatologist and immunologist, whose license plate happens to be “T cell.” From the beginning, he made learning about the immune system fun and this still rings true with me today. At age 15, I spent my summer in the Cleveland Clinic microbiology lab with Dr. Belinda Yen-Lieberman. She taught me about virology, and I became fascinated with HIV. I always knew I wanted to be a rheumatologist but discovered that the intersection of infectious disease and rheumatology was the niche for me. With an immense amount of support from Carlos Isada, my ID program director, and Abby Abelson, my rheumatology program director, as well as from my father, I was fortunate to serve as the beta test subject of a 3-year combined fellowship in rheumatology and infectious disease, from which I graduated in 2018. Dr. Isada is the type of physician who is hard to come by these days — being a doctor is not “just a job” for him, but a life passion, and learning from him made it impossible to do anything but love the field of infectious diseases. Today I am lucky to practice medicine at the intersection of my two passions — seeing patients with infectious complications of immunosuppression, rheumatic manifestations of infections and HIV, and focusing on infection prevention and immunization. I am also lucky to get to work with my dad every day (and my sister, who also works in my department). I learn something new and have fun every day.

Results from the EGALITE study showed that 12 weeks of elbasvir/grazoprevir was a highly effective regimen for treatment-naive Asian patients with hepatitis C virus genotype 1b infection and mild liver fibrosis. Those who were given 8 weeks of therapy had “substantially lower” SVR12 rates, researchers said, suggesting that only certain patients — like those with low viral loads and patients without significant resistance to NS5A inhibitor-containing regimens — can benefit from an abbreviated regimen.

VIENNA — In this exclusive video from the International Liver Congress 2019, Philippa Easterbrook, MD, senior scientist of the Global Hepatitis Program within the HIV Department at the WHO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, discusses a symposium focused on sharing “good practices and lessons learned” in the global viral hepatitis response.

ATLANTA — An investigation identified a health care worker who was diverting injectable narcotics for personal use as the likely source of 13 hepatitis C virus infections in an ED in Washington state.