Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside: Psychosis and hepatitis C-related liver dysfunction associated with increased mortality

DTES residents dying at more than eight times the national average: UBC study

Psychosis and hepatitis C-related liver dysfunction are the greatest risk factors for mortality for vulnerable residents in the Downtown

Marginalized residents of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside are dying at more than eight times the national average, and treatable conditions are the greatest risk factors for mortality, researchers at the University of British Columbia have found.

When the researchers looked into the associated risk factors for mortality, they did not find any link with HIV or substance addiction. Instead, they found psychosis and hepatitis C-related liver dysfunction to be significantly associated with increased mortality, particularly among participants under the age of 55.In research outlined in the British Medical Journal Open, investigators recruited 371 study participants aged 23 to 72 from single room occupancy hotels and the Downtown Community Court. Over the course of nearly four years, 31 participants died—a mortality rate 8.29 times the average for Canadians of the same age and sex. For participants between the ages of 20 to 59, the mortality rates were even more astounding: more than 10 times the national rate.

“We were somewhat surprised because most people thinking about the Downtown Eastside think about HIV/AIDS or the possibility of overdosing on opioids like heroin,” said Dr. William Honer, professor and head of UBC’s Department of Psychiatry and co-author of the study. “Our system is not doing as well in getting treatments out there for psychosis and hepatitis C in this group, and it’s interesting that those two illnesses are causing risk for early mortality.”

While close to two-thirds of participants living with HIV were receiving antiretroviral treatment, not one of the 57 participants with active hepatitis C infection and related liver dysfunction was receiving treatment. Only one third of the 173 participants diagnosed with psychosis were receiving treatment.

“Psychosis is an extremely prevalent issue among inner city populations and we need to address this,” said lead author Andrea Jones, an MD/PhD candidate in mental health and addictions research at UBC. “We need to be ready to detect and treat mental illness in an integrated way that really meets the patients where they’re at. We need to improve the detection and treatment of psychosis and hepatitis C in marginalized people across Canada.”

BACKGROUND

About the study

About 3,800 people live in subsidized single room occupancy (SRO) housing in the DTES. The Downtown Community Court (DCC) is a partnership of justice, social and health care services, and processes 2,500 cases a year.

Between November 2008 and August 2012, researchers recruited 371 study participants, 81 of them women, from SROs and the DCC. The participants were followed for an average of 3.8 years. Mental and physical illnesses were identified and assessed with psychiatric evaluations, neuropsychological testing and MRI scans, as well as blood tests.

For the 31 participants who died during the study, Coroner’s reports were requested, healthcare providers were interviewed, and medical and mental-health related hospital records were obtained for the year prior to death.

The study, Mortality from treatable illnesses in marginally housed adults: a prospective cohort study, was funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, and the BC Mental Health and Substance Use Services.

Find other stories about: Andrea Jones, Dept. of Psychiatry, downtown eastside, DTES, william honer

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Big Pharma's Foe Takes Victory Lap as Drug Price Increases Slow

Big Pharma's Foe Takes Victory Lap as Drug Price Increases Slow

Robert Langreth

A new analysis shows that attempts by drugmakers to raise prices on their prescription medications are being wiped out in negotiations with managers of drug insurance benefits, led by Paz’s company, Express Scripts Holding Co., and his biggest rival, CVS Health Corp. Express Scripts said Wednesday that Paz will retire in May, making way for the company’s president, Tim Wentworth, to take over....

Express Scripts is increasing its focus on high-priced cancer drugs, Wentworth said, because “the cost of oncology continues to concern our clients greatly.” It’s also looking for ways to drive down prices for hepatitis C drugs further, he said....

Continue reading...

Of Interest
Reducing the cost of new hepatitis C drugs
An index of articles pointing the reader to the current controversy over the high price of Sovaldi, Harvoni (ledipasvir/sofosbuvir) and AbbVie Viekira Pak.

MODELLING THE HELICASE TO UNDERSTAND HEPATITIS

MODELLING THE HELICASE TO UNDERSTAND HEPATITIS

NS3 BEHAVES LIKE A “CATERPILLAR” AND HELPS THE VIRUS TO REPLICATE

NS3 is an enzyme specific to the hepatitis C virus. If developed, a drug capable of recognizing and selectively attacking it could fight the disease without side effects for the body. However, to be able to develop one we need to know more about the behavior of this important protein in the virus replication process. Some SISSA scientists have provided a detailed and comprehensive view of the behavior of NS3. The study has been published in the journal Nucleic Acids Research.

According to the WHO, a good 140 million people are affected by hepatitis C (3/4 million new cases per year). This is still a subtle disease which, in the event of chronic infection, heavily affects the patients' quality of life and whose complications can lead to death. One of the molecules involved in the reproduction mechanism of the virus in the body is a helicase, NS3, an enzyme that interacts with the RNA (the viral genome, which is not like our DNA) by climbing onto it and helping the pathogen's replication process.



"By knowing in detail how this helicase works, in the future we could try to block the viral replication, and thus stop the disease from proliferating in the body" explains Giovanni Bussi, SISSA professor and among the study authors. NS3 facilitates the work of the polymerases, the molecules that build a replica of the RNA strand, by "opening" and preparing the RNA to the action of the second enzyme. "NS3 crawls along the RNA strand contracting and extending like a caterpillar and, as it does so, it releases the part of the virus to which the polymerase then attaches" explains Andrea Pérez-Villa, SISSA student and first author of the paper. "We decided to analyze this protein because, unlike others, it is only present in the hepatitis C virus. This way, any drug capable of targeting its interaction with the RNA would not damage other proteins, for example, those belonging to the body being attacked by the virus. This means that, theoretically, the drug would have no side effects".

"Our work was based on a computer simulation, starting from the available experimental data", explains Pérez-Villa. So far, crystallography studies succeeded in obtaining a limited number of "images" of NS3, too few to be able to reconstruct the whole process. Based on existing data, Pérez-Villa and Bussi (as well as Maria Darvas, SISSA research scientist who took part in the study) created a model of the protein and had it interact with the viral RNA. But not only that.

"During the process, ATP, the "fuel" utilized by proteins, is consumed. Therefore our simulation also reproduced the system's interaction with ATP and subsequently with ADP, a waste product together with phosphate, after ATP had been utilized" concludes Bussi. So for the first time we provided a detailed description of the process, which will serve as a guide for future steps forward, whether theoretical or experimental.

Original paper Nucleic Acid Research: http://goo.gl/DAuCPt
http://www.sissa.it/news/modelling-helicase-understand-hepatitis

Hepatitis C Genotype 3 - Updated Label for Daklinza (daclatasvir) Approved by the European Commission

Updated Label for Daklinza (daclatasvir) for the 12-week Treatment of Non-cirrhotic Patients with Chronic Hepatitis C Genotype 3 Approved by the European Commission

Daklinza in combination with sofosbuvir is the first 12-week all-oral therapy for genotype 3 patients without cirrhosis in Europe

Hepatitis C genotype 3 progresses faster than genotype 1 and is one of the most difficult-to-treat genotypes

Thursday, September 10, 2015 7:00 am EDT

"The burden of hepatitis C – and genotype 3, specifically – remains significant in many parts of Europe"

PRINCETON, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (NYSE:BMY) announced today that the European Commission has approved an updated label for Daklinza for the treatment of genotype 3 chronic hepatitis C (HCV). The update allows the use of Daklinza in combination with sofosbuvir for 12 weeks in patients without cirrhosis in all 28 Member States of the European Union, and marks the first time these patients with genotype 3 HCV have a once-daily, all-oral treatment regimen of this shorter duration.

“The burden of hepatitis C – and genotype 3, specifically – remains significant in many parts of Europe,” said Graham R. Foster, FRCP, Ph.D., Professor of Hepatology, Blizard Institute, Queen Mary University of London, London, United Kingdom. “Despite advances in therapy, genotype 3 HCV patients are still some of the most challenging to treat with direct-acting antivirals. The cure rates achieved by Daklinza in combination with sofosbuvir for 12 weeks represent a positive step forward for genotype 3 patients without cirrhosis.”

Daklinza is contraindicated in combination with medicinal products that strongly induce CYP3A and P-glycoprotein transporter, as this may lead to lower exposure and loss of efficacy of Daklinza. Daklinza must not be administered as a monotherapy.

In August 2014, Daklinza was approved by the European Commission for use in combination with other medicinal products across genotypes 1, 2, 3 and 4 for the treatment of chronic HCV infection in adults. The original label included treatment of patients with genotype 3 (with or without compensated cirrhosis and/or treatment-experienced) with Daklinza and sofosbuvir and ribavirin, for 24 weeks. The updated label, which removes the requirement for ribavirin and reduces treatment duration to 12 weeks for patients without cirrhosis, is based on data submitted to the European Medicines Agency and the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use from the ALLY-3 clinical trial. The updated treatment regimen for patients with cirrhosis is forDaklinza plus sofosbuvir with the optional use of ribavirin, which may be added based on clinical assessment of the patient. The treatment duration for these patients has not changed.

Affecting an estimated 54.3 million people (30% of all HCV patients) worldwide, genotype 3 is the second most common HCV genotype globally and is considered one of the most difficult to treat. The more aggressive nature of genotype 3 lies in the damage it causes to the liver, as it is associated with accelerated fibrosis progression. Recent research has also shown the risk of cirrhosis for patients infected with HCV genotype 3 is 31% greater than for those with HCV genotype 1.

ALLY-3 Study Design

The European Commission’s approval is based on data from the Phase 3 open-label ALLY-3 clinical trial, which was published in Hepatology in April 2015. In the trial, 152 patients with chronic HCV genotype 3 infection and compensated liver disease (101 treatment-naïve patients and 51 treatment-experienced patients) received Daklinza 60 mg plus sofosbuvir 400 mg once daily for 12 weeks and were monitored for 24 weeks post-treatment. The co-primary endpoints were defined as HCV RNA below the lower limit of quantification (LLOQ) at post-treatment week 12 (SVR12) in each treatment group. Most treatment-experienced patients had failed prior treatment with peginterferon/ribavirin, but seven patients were treated previously with a sofosbuvir regimen and two patients with a regimen containing an investigational cyclophilin inhibitor. Previous exposure to NS5A inhibitors was prohibited. In the trial, the Daklinzaplus sofosbuvir regimen demonstrated overall SVR12 in 90% of treatment-naïve and 86% of treatment-experienced chronic HCV genotype 3 patients. SVR12 rates were higher (96%) in genotype 3 patients without cirrhosis, regardless of treatment history. In the more difficult-to-treat patients with cirrhosis, SVR12 rates were reduced (63%) following the 12 weeks of treatment with the Daklinza plus sofosbuvir regimen.

In the trial, there were no treatment-related serious adverse events (SAEs), no discontinuations due to adverse events (AEs), and no new safety signals. The most common treatment-related AEs were headache (20%), fatigue (19%), nausea (12%) and diarrhea (9%). The updated Summary of Product Characteristics will be available atwww.ema.europa.eu.

About Bristol-Myers Squibb in HCV

Bristol-Myers Squibb’s research efforts are focused on advancing compounds to deliver the most value to HCV patients with high unmet needs. At the core of our portfolio is daclatasvir, a NS5A complex inhibitor which continues to be investigated in multiple treatment regimens and in patients with high disease burden, such as pre- and post-transplant patients and HIV/HCV coinfected patients, as part of the ongoing Phase 3 ALLY Program.

In July 2014, Japan became the first country in the world to approve the use of a daclatasvir-based regimen for the treatment of chronic HCV. Since then, daclatasvir-based regimens have been approved in more than 50 countries, including the United States, across Europe, and in numerous other countries in North, Central and South America, the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific region.

U.S. Indication and Important Safety Information (ISI) - Daklinza™ (daclatasvir)

The following ISI is based on information from U.S. Prescribing Information for Daklinza. Please consult the full Prescribing Information for all labeled safety information.

INDICATION

Daklinza™ (daclatasvir) is indicated for use with sofosbuvir for the treatment of patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotype 3 infection.

Limitations of Use:
Sustained virologic response (SVR) rates are reduced in HCV genotype 3-infected patients with cirrhosis receiving Daklinza in combination with sofosbuvir for 12 weeks.

IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION

CONTRAINDICATIONS
Drugs Contraindicated with Daklinza: strong inducers of CYP3A that may lead to loss of efficacy of Daklinza include, but are not limited to:
Phenytoin, carbamazepine, rifampin, St. John’s wort (Hypericum perforatum).

WARNINGS and PRECAUTIONS
Risk of Adverse Reactions or Loss of Virologic Response Due to Drug Interactions: Coadministration of Daklinza and other drugs may result in known or potentially significant drug interactions. Interactions may include the loss of therapeutic effect of Daklinza and possible development of resistance, dosage adjustments for other agents or Daklinza, possible clinically significant adverse events from greater exposure for the other agents or Daklinza.
Serious Symptomatic Bradycardia When Coadministered with Sofosbuvir and Amiodarone: Post-marketing cases of symptomatic bradycardia and cases requiring pacemaker intervention have been reported when amiodarone is coadministered with sofosbuvir in combination with another direct-acting antiviral, including Daklinza. A fatal cardiac arrest was reported with ledipasvir/sofosbuvir.
Coadministration of amiodarone with Daklinza in combination with sofosbuvir is not recommended. For patients taking amiodarone who have no alternative treatment options, patients should undergo cardiac monitoring, as outlined in Section 5.2 of the prescribing information.
Bradycardia generally resolved after discontinuation of HCV treatment.
Patients also taking beta blockers or those with underlying cardiac comorbidities and/or advanced liver disease may be at increased risk for symptomatic bradycardia with coadministration of amiodarone.

ADVERSE REACTIONS
The most common adverse reactions were (≥ 5%): headache (14%), fatigue (14%), nausea (8%), and diarrhea (5%).

DRUG INTERACTIONS
CYP3A: Daklinza is a substrate. Moderate or strong inducers may decrease plasma levels and effect of Daklinza. Strong inhibitors (e.g., clarithromycin, itraconazole, ketoconazole, ritonavir) may increase plasma levels of Daklinza.
P-gp, OATP 1B1 and 1B3, and BCRP: Daklinza is an inhibitor, and may increase exposure to substrates, potentially increasing or prolonging their adverse effect.

See Section 7 of the Full Prescribing Information for additional established and other potentially significant drug interactions and related dose modification recommendations.

Daklinza in Pregnancy: No data with Daklinza in pregnant women are available to inform a drug-associated risk. Animal studies of Daklinza at exposure above the recommended human dose have shown maternal and embryofetal toxicity. Consider the benefits and risks of Daklinza when prescribing Daklinza to a pregnant woman.

Nursing Mothers: Daklinza was excreted into the milk of lactating rats; it is not known if Daklinza is excreted into human milk. Consider the benefits and risks to the mother and infant when breastfeeding.

Please click here for the Daklinza full prescribing information.

About Bristol-Myers Squibb

Bristol-Myers Squibb is a global biopharmaceutical company whose mission is to discover, develop and deliver innovative medicines that help patients prevail over serious diseases. For more information, please visit http://www.bms.com or follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/bmsnews.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Forward Looking Statement

This press release contains "forward-looking statements" as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 regarding the research, development and commercialization of pharmaceutical products. Such forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and involve inherent risks and uncertainties, including factors that could delay, divert or change any of them, and could cause actual outcomes and results to differ materially from current expectations. No forward-looking statement can be guaranteed. Among other risks, there can be no guarantee that Daklinza’s approval for the updated label mentioned above will lead to increased commercial success. Forward-looking statements in this press release should be evaluated together with the many uncertainties that affect Bristol-Myers Squibb's business, particularly those identified in the cautionary factors discussion in Bristol-Myers Squibb's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2014 in our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and our Current Reports on Form 8-K. Bristol-Myers Squibb undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Contact:
Bristol-Myers Squibb Company
Media:
Robert Perry, 407-492-4616
rob.perry@bms.com
or
Investors:
Ranya Dajani, 609-252-5330
ranya.dajani@bms.com
or
Bill Szablewski, 609-252-5894
william.szablewski@bms.com

Innovative Research Centers Program investigates botanical dietary supplements and other natural products

NIH awards nearly $35 million to research natural products

Innovative Research Centers Program investigates botanical dietary supplements and other natural products

Five research centers will focus on the safety of natural products, on how they work within the body, and on the development of cutting-edge research technologies. The centers, jointly funded by the National Institutes of Health’s Office of Dietary Supplements (ODS) and the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH), include three Botanical Dietary Supplements Research Centers and two Centers for Advancing Natural Products Innovation and Technology. Natural products include a wide variety of substances produced by plants, bacteria, fungi, and animals that have historically been used in traditional medicine and other complementary and integrative health practices.

“Natural products have a long and impressive history as sources of medicine and as important biological research tools.”

—Josephine Briggs, M.D.
Director, NCCIH

Many of the botanical supplements proposed for study by these centers — such as black cohosh, bitter melon, chasteberry, fenugreek, grape seed extract, hops, maca, milk thistle, resveratrol, licorice, and valerian — are among the top 100 supplements consumed in the United States based on sales data. Nearly 1 in 5 U.S. adults use botanical supplements and other non-vitamin, non-mineral dietary supplements, such as fish oil/omega-3 fatty acids and probiotics, according to the 2012 National Health Interview Survey.

“Our Botanical Research Centers Program has been a unique driver of research on natural products for 16 years,” said Paul M. Coates, Ph.D., ODS director. “The two new Centers for Advancing Natural Products Innovation and Technology will develop pioneering methods and techniques to catalyze research on these products."

The three Botanical Dietary Supplements Research Centers will receive competitive awards of approximately $2 million per year for five years, pending available funds. These three interdisciplinary and collaborative centers will advance understanding of the mechanisms through which complex botanical dietary supplements may affect human health and resilience.

The two Centers for Advancing Natural Products Innovation and Technology have a combined budget of approximately $1.25 million per year for five years, pending available funds. These centers are expected to develop new research approaches and technologies that will have significant impact on the chemical and biological investigation of natural products. They will also provide leadership in coordinating scientific discourse and disseminating innovative methodology and good research practices to the research community on natural products.

“Natural products have a long and impressive history as sources of medicine and as important biological research tools,” said Josephine Briggs, M.D., NCCIH director. “These centers will seek not only to understand potential mechanisms by which natural products may affect health, but also to address persistent technological challenges for this field by taking full advantage of innovative advances in biological and chemical methodology.”
Dietary Botanicals in the Preservation of Cognitive and Psychological Resilience

Principal Investigators: Giulio Pasinetti, M.D. Ph.D., and Richard Dixon, Ph.D.
Institution: Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York City
Partner Institutions: Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana; Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick; University of North Texas, Denton

This new center will focus on the mechanisms through which polyphenol-containing dietary supplements derived from grapes promote cognitive and psychological resilience to common psychological stresses including sleep deprivation. In addition to extending their previous research on the mechanisms of action of these botanical products in the brain, this Center will also seek to understand the role of the human gastrointestinal microflora (microbiome) in their activity and in cognitive and psychological health more generally.
Botanicals and Metabolic Resiliency

Principal Investigator: William Cefalu, M.D.
Institution: Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge
Partner Institutions: North Carolina State University, Kannapolis; Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick; University of Illinois at Chicago

Over the last five years this center focused on the evaluation of botanicals to prevent metabolic syndrome, a group of risk factors for diabetes and heart disease. In the next five years the team will focus on the ability of botanicals to promote metabolic resiliency, the ability to maintain health in the presence of stressors such as high-fat diet or inflammation, and to study the mechanisms of action of the most promising botanicals in this context. This center will also explore the role of the gastrointestinal microbiome in the biological effects of the products studied including bitter melon and fenugreek.
Botanical Dietary Supplements for Women’s Health

Principal Investigator: Richard van Breemen, Ph.D.
Institution: University of Illinois at Chicago

Established in 1999, this center focuses on the safety and mechanisms of action of botanicals used by American women to maintain health and quality of life, especially during menopause. Previously, the team focused on the safety of commonly used dietary supplements such as black cohosh, hops, and licorice, and their effects on estrogenic hormones. In the next award period the team will advance its ground-breaking work on the characterization and standardization of complex botanical products, and on the interactions of those products with estrogens and with prescription drugs with a continuing focus on safety.

The Center for High-throughput Functional Annotation of Natural Products

Principal Investigators: John MacMillan, Ph.D., Roger Linington, Ph.D., and Michael White, Ph.D.
Institutions: University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas; Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada; University of California, Santa Cruz

This team brings together experts in the chemistry of natural products, biological screening, data analytics, and bioinformatics to create a center focused on use of innovative strategies to study the biological effects of natural products. To improve the speed, breadth, and precision of the chemical and biological characterization of natural products, the team will develop innovative, cell-based screening approaches to uncover bioactive molecules of interest and their corresponding molecular targets. A vital component of this center will be the dissemination of primary data to the greater scientific community through a searchable, data-driven website.
The UIC Natural Products Technology Center

Principal Investigator: Guido Pauli, Ph.D.
Institution: University of Illinois at Chicago

The primary objective of this center is to coordinate and disseminate state-of-the-art research technologies aimed at mining bioanalytical knowledge of natural products. These activities will produce documentation of good research practices for natural products and promote the coherence of outcomes between it and the above-mentioned Center for High-throughput Functional Annotation of Natural Products. This center will also develop and share cutting-edge bioanalytical methodologies that address important biomedical questions and advance a more holistic research approach regarding natural products and their metabolomic complexity.

The Office of Dietary Supplements initiated the Botanical Research Centers Program in partnership with the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health in 1999, in response to a Congressional mandate. To learn more about the Botanical Research Centers Program, visit
http://ods.od.nih.gov/Research/Dietary_Supplement_Research_Centers.aspx.

About the NIH Office of Dietary Supplements (ODS): The mission of ODS is to strengthen knowledge and understanding of dietary supplements by evaluating scientific information, stimulating and supporting research, disseminating research results, and educating the public to foster an enhanced quality of life and health for the U.S. population. For additional information about ODS, visit the web site at
ods.od.nih.gov. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook .

About the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH): NCCIH’s mission is to define, through rigorous scientific investigation, the usefulness and safety of complementary and integrative health approaches and their roles in improving health and health care. For additional information, call NCCIH’s Clearinghouse toll free at 1-888-644-6226, or visit the NCCIH Web site at nccih.nih.gov. Follow us on Twitter , Facebook , and YouTube .

About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the nation's medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov.

Video/TWIGH Reports: World Hepatitis Summit from September 2-4 in Glasgow, Scotland

Streamed live on Sep 2, 2015

This Week in Global Health
This week, TWiGH is honoured have been invited to cover the first ever
World Hepatitis Summit from September 2-4 in Glasgow, Scotland.
The summit is a joint World Health Organization (WHO) and World Hepatitis Alliance (WHA) event hosted by the Scottish Government and supportedby Glasgow Caledonian University and Health Protection Scotland. This three-day meeting comes in response to last year’s World Health Assembly Resolution calling for concerted action to reverse the ever-rising death toll from viral hepatitis.
TWiGH's own Caity Jackson will be on location with World Hepatitis Alliance President Charles Gore and Dr Gottfried Hirnschall, Director HIV/AIDS Department and Global Hepatitis Programme at the World Health Organisation.

Interferon-free therapies improve liver function in HCV patients

Interferon-free therapies improve liver function in HCV patients

Antiviral therapy without interferon improved liver function in patients with hepatitis C virus infection-related advanced cirrhosis, according to data from an observational cohort study.

Researchers analyzed data of 80 patients with HCV-associated liver cirrhosis undergoing treatment with a combination of direct-acting antivirals without interferon. Of these patients, 43% had Child-Pugh B/C cirrhosis (n = 34), and 53% had platelet counts of less than 90,000/μL (n = 42). The combination regimens included Sovaldi (sofosbuvir, Gilead Sciences) with ribavirin (n = 56), Olysio (sofosbuvir/simeprevir, Janssen Therapeutics) with or without ribavirin (n = 15) and sofosbuvir and Daklinza (daclatasvir, Bristol-Myers Squibb) with or without ribavirin (n = 9). Most patients had HCV genotype 1 (n = 50), followed by 24 with genotype 3, four with HCV genotype 2 and two patients with genotype 4.

Continue reading..

Full text
Improvement of liver function parameters in advanced HCV-associated liver cirrhosis by IFN-free antiviral therapies

Free HCV Testing - Chronic Liver Disease Foundation and Walgreens to Launch Hepatitis C Testing Campaign

Chronic Liver Disease Foundation and Walgreens to Launch Hepatitis C Testing Campaign CLDF to Support Free HCV Testing at 60 Walgreens Stores across the U.S.

CLARK, N.J., May 19, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- The Chronic Liver Disease Foundation (CLDF) announced today that it's collaborating with Walgreens to offer free hepatitis C (HCV) testing with the OraQuick® HCV Rapid Test at more than 60 Walgreens retail pharmacies in 12 major cities throughout the country.

The program, which is slated to launch this August and run through January 2016, will offer free rapid HCV testing on specific days and times each week to patients at risk for HCV. Rapid testing and patient education will be conducted by trained healthcare professionals on site at each retail location and individuals who test positive will be linked directly to one of CLDF's 75 Hepatology Centers of Expertise throughout the U.S.

"The rapid hepatitis testing program demonstrates our commitment to helping patients access important information that can help to improve their health," said Glen Pietrandoni, RPh, AAHIVP, senior director, virology, Walgreens. "We are proud to collaborate with the Chronic Liver Disease Foundation on this initiative. Through this testing program we can help people become educated on the risk factors, identify people infected with HCV and help them get linked to appropriate care."

"Today, approximately 5.2 million Americans have hepatitis C and the vast majority does not know it," said Dr. Willis C. Maddrey, President of the Chronic Liver Disease Foundation. "However, new therapies are now available that can effectively treat and cure hepatitis C.

Each year, about 17,000 Americans become infected with hepatitis C. Up to 75 percent of people with chronic hepatitis C infection were born during 1945-1965, and up to three out of four people infected with hepatitis C are unaware of their infection.

OraQuick® HCV is the first and only FDA-approved and CLIA-waived point of care test for detection of HCV infection in at-risk individuals. The simple, accurate platform enables healthcare providers to deliver an accurate diagnosis in 20 minutes, using venipuncture or fingerstick blood. The test is manufactured by OraSure Technologies (NASDAQ: OSUR) in Bethlehem, Pa.

About the Chronic Liver Disease Foundation
Established in 2001, the Chronic Liver Disease Foundation is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) educational organization dedicated to providing hepatology related continuing medical education, news and information to healthcare professionals across the US. The CLDF is led by a Board of Trustees comprised of nationally renowned liver disease specialists. Furthermore, the CLDF believes that educational programs should be developed by the specialists who are actively involved in the research, treatment and management of a disease. As such the CLDF has developed a network of 75 Centers of Educational Expertise and multiple Advisory Boards who are actively involved in program creation related to specific disease topics which include; hemochromatosis, hepatic encephalopathy, hepatitis B, hepatitis C, hepatocellular carcinoma, HIV co-infection, liver transplantation and NASH/NAFLD. The CLDF's educational opportunities are offered in a variety of formats including an interactive web site, live meetings, teleconferences, print pieces, webcasts and other electronic mediums. For more information, please visit www.chronicliverdisease.org.

Media Contact:
Contact:
Alessandra LaMastro for CLDF
973-668-8354
alamastro@focusmeded.com

SOURCE Chronic Liver Disease Foundation

RELATED LINKS
http://www.chronicliverdisease.org