APRIL 8, 2016
Hepatitis C Deaths Up Sharply Over Past Decade
By Gina Shaw
Because of new novel therapies that cure HCV, the statistics might surprise some. However, the new therapies will not affect death rates for years to come. Over the past 10 years, there has been an increasing number of aging baby boomers who have been living with untreated or suboptimally treated HCV, who have developed advanced liver disease and liver cancer. Those are the individuals who have been contributing to the increased death rates from HCV-related causes. In patients with decompensated cirrhosis or liver cancer, as many of these patients have, new therapies may cure their HCV, but they can’t cure their cancer. In addition, the study period only goes to 2013—the year sofosbuvir (Sovaldi, Gilead Sciences) was approved, according to said Jonathan Fenkel, MD, the director of the Hepatitis C Center at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia, who was asked to comment on the findings.
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