Hepatitis C News

The European Association for the Study of the Liver responded with serious concern to a systematic review published by the Cochrane Group Review that stated, direct acting antivirals “do not seem to have any effects on risk of serious adverse events [but] we could neither confirm nor reject that DAAs had any clinical effects.”

AbbVie has received a positive opinion from the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use for its ribavirin-free regimen Maviret for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C of all genotypes, according to a press release.

Gilead Sciences announced that the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use has adopted a positive opinion on the company’s Marketing Authorization Application for its direct-acting antiviral regimen sofosbuvir-velpatasvir-voxilaprevir, or Vosevi, according to a press release.

Sustained virologic response following interferon-based antiviral therapy in patients with hepatitis C reduced the risk for extrahepatic manifestations, according to results of a recently published study. The researchers suggested this means greater impact from direct-acting antiviral treatments.

Due to budget concerns, the incoming class of the CDC’s Epidemic Intelligence Service, or EIS, has been reduced to 71 members — 10 fewer than last year. The agency also intends to cut the class size next year, according to an overview of its 2018 fiscal year budget. Infectious Disease News spoke with former EIS officer Ali S. Khan, MD, MPH, now dean of the University of Nebraska Medical Center, College of Public Health, about the consequences of reducing the number of EIS officers available to tackle health threats around the world.

A hepatitis C virus treatment program at an urban safety-net hospital that used a multidisciplinary team led to nearly one out of every four referrals receiving treatment, according to research recently published in Annals of Family Medicine.

The man in the hospital in Puerto Rico had been bitten by a mongoose as he reached inside his backyard chicken coop to retrieve some eggs. The mongoose latched on, locking his teeth in the man’s skin, but the man did not seek medical attention. Two months later, in late November 2015, with symptoms of rabies infection, he finally went to the hospital, but the man did not disclose the bite and checked himself out the next morning, against medical advice. He returned later that day and was dead by the evening — the first mongoose-associated rabies fatality in the island’s history.

Direct-acting antiviral treatment in patients with hepatitis C and cirrhosis was most cost-effective and cost-saving pre-liver transplant among those with a MELD score of 21 or less, but post-liver transplant among those with a MELD score over 21, according to a recent study.

An electronic health record clinical decision support tool significantly increased hepatitis C virus screening, as well as follow-up testing and linkage to care among members of the baby boomer generation, according to recently published findings.

A recent report from the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown University provides key recommendations for the potential elimination of hepatitis C in the U.S., based upon an expert consultation of 35 diverse stakeholders, including HCV medical and non-medical providers, patient advocates, epidemiologists, and federal HCV policy and program staff.