Children lose out on liver transplants, study finds

“Children with chronic liver disease who are in need of transplant may be at a disadvantage compared with adults in a similar situation,” they wrote in their report, published in the journal JAMA Pediatrics.

Children lose out on liver transplants, study finds
by Maggie Fox / Sep.17.2018
The system for allocating liver transplants is stacked against kids, a new study finds.

Children who need lifesaving liver transplants are losing out to adults, according to a new study released Monday.

A system used to determine who is most in need of a transplant significantly underestimates the risk of death for younger children with liver disease, the team at the University of Pittsburgh found
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Psychological relief is the most important benefit of a hepatitis C cure for patients

Psychological relief is the most important benefit of a hepatitis C cure for patients
Roger Pebody Published: 13 September 2018
When asked to describe what their hepatitis C cure meant to them, Australians who had recently completed treatment emphasised an improved sense of psychological wellbeing, according to a qualitative study recently published in Hepatology, Medicine and Policy.

They described their relief about no longer fearing the development of liver disease or cancer, or of infecting others. Interviewees who had a history of injecting drug use understood their cure as a way to break the connection with their past.

Jacqueline Richmond of La Trobe University and colleagues recruited people who had achieved a sustained virological response 12 weeks after completing treatment (SVR12) in order to be interviewed about their experience of treatment and of cure. All participants were recruited from clinics in Melbourne, Australia between October 2016 and April 2017. The interviews were conducted during an early phase of the roll-out of direct acting antiviral (DAA) treatment in Australia; those interviewed are therefore likely to be ‘early adopters’ who may have been more motivated and enthusiastic than some other people who are eligible for treatment.

Continue reading: http://www.infohep.org/Psychological-relief-is-the-most-important-benefit-of-a-hepatitis-C-cure-for-patients/page/3336165/

Article source:

Richmond JA et al. Achieving a hepatitis C cure: a qualitative exploration of the experiences and meanings of achieving a hepatitis C cure using the direct acting antivirals in Australia. Hepatology, Medicine and Policy 3:8, 2018. (Full text freely available.)

Treatment of Chronic HCV: Patients’ experiences before, during, and up to one year after directing antiviral therapy”

Listen to experts discuss important HCV related topics in the following easy to access webinar programs presented by HepCure.

Listen

The Patient-Reported Outcomes Project (PROP-UP)
Date presented August 28, 2018
“The Patient-Reported Outcomes Project (PROP UP): A multi-site observational cohort study of patients’ experiences before, during, and up to one year after directing antiviral therapy”
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Access the slides here

Coming Soon

Hepatitis C and Drug Use: Addressing Screening, Treatment, and Stigma

Date presented September 11, 2018
Presentation by Dr. Christian B. Ramers, MPH, AAHIVS. Dr. Ramers will be added soon.

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Psychological relief is the most important benefit of a hepatitis C cure for patients

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The patient app is a free resource for patients with hepatitis C, which allows them to track medication adherence, symptoms, and gain access to resources. It is available to download for free on iOS (App Store) and Android (Google Play) operating systems. While the app can be used by patients independently from the dashboard, it can also be linked with the provider dashboard. Providers can push lab data to patients and track treatment adherence and symptom data input by patients in real time.
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Gilead targets hep B in half a billion dollar deal with Precision BioSciences

Gilead targets hep B in half a billion dollar deal with Precision BioSciences

Gemma Jones

14th September 2018

Biopharma looks to genome editing platform to discover hepatitis B cure

Following its success in curing hepatitis C with therapies such as Sovaldi and Harvoni, Gilead is now enlisting a new partner in the fight against hepatitis B (HBV).

Inking a collaboration deal that would be worth half a billion dollars with genome editing specialists Precision Biosciences, Gilead is aiming to develop a cure for HBV, which is proving more difficult to eliminate than hep C.

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Chronic Hepatitis C Patients with Obesity: Do we Need two Operators for Accurate Evaluation of Liver Stiffness?

In Case You Missed It

Annals of Hepatology

September - October, 2018

Vol. 17 Issue 5 

Chronic Hepatitis C Patients with Obesity: Do we Need two Operators for Accurate Evaluation of Liver Stiffness? 

Gamal E. Shiha, Shahira El-Etreby, Mounir Bahgat, Magdy Hamed, Mohamed El Sherbini, Elsayed A. Ghoneem, Khaled Zalata, Reham E. Soliman, Mohamed A. ElBasiouny, Nabiel NH Mikhail Page 795-801

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Abstract

Introduction and aim. 

Transient elastography is gaining popularity as a non-invasive method for predicting liver fibrosis, but inter observer agreement and factors influencing reproducibility have not been adequately assessed. Material and methods. This cross-sectional study was conducted at Specialized Medical Hospital and the Egyptian Liver Foundation, Mansoura, Egypt. The inclusion criteria were: age older than 18 years and chronic infection by hepatitis C. The exclusion criteria were the presence of ascites, pacemaker or pregnancy. Three hundred and fifty-six patients participated in the study. Therefore, 356 pairs of exams were done by two operators on the same day. Results. The overall inter observer agreement ICC was 0.921. The correlation the two operators was excellent (Spearman's value q = 0.808, p < 0.001). Inter-observer reliability values were κ = 0.557 (p < 0.001). A not negligible discordance of fibrosis staging between operators was observed (87 cases, 24.4%). Discordance of at least one stage and for two or more stages of fibrosis occurred in 60 (16.9%) and 27 cases (7.6%) respectively. Obesity (BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2) is the main factor associated with discordance (p = 0.002). Conclusion. Although liver stiffness measurement has had an excellent correlation between the two operators, TE presented an inter-observer variability that may not be negligible.

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Hepatitis C; Does the old-fashioned sofosbuvir plus ribavirin treatment in genotype 2 still work for Koreans?

Clin Mol Hepatol. 2018 Sep 11. doi: 10.3350/cmh.2018.1009. [Epub ahead of print]
Does the old-fashioned sofosbuvir plus ribavirin treatment in genotype 2 chronic hepatitis C patients still works for Koreans?
Yeon JE

PMID: 30200750 DOI: 10.3350/cmh.2018.1009 

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Editorial

According to the 2017 Korean Association for the Study of the Liver (KASL) treatment guidelines of chronic hepatitis C,1 treatment options for genotype 2 patients are sofosbuvir plus ribavirin (SOF+R), SOF plus daclatasvir, glecaprevir plus pibrentasvir, SOF plus velpatasvir and pegylated interferon alpha plus ribavirin (PEG-IFN+R). Except in cases where only patients who cannot use the direct acting antivirals (DAAs), PEG-IFN+R is replaced by DAAs.

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Hepatitis C virus prevalence and estimated incidence among new injectors during the opioid epidemic in New York City, 2000 to 2017: Protective effects of non-injecting drug use

Drug and Alcohol Dependence

Available online 12 September 2018

Hepatitis C virus prevalence and estimated incidence among new injectors during the opioid epidemic in New York City, 2000 to 2017: Protective effects of non-injecting drug use

Don C. Des Jarlais, K. Arasteh, J. Feelemyer, C. McKnight, David M. Barnes, David C. Perlman, A. Uuskula, H.L.F. Cooper, Susan Tross
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2018.07.034
Publication stage: In Press Accepted Manuscript

Published online: September 12, 2018

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Highlights
•Reverse transitioning was strongly associated with lower HCV seroprevalence.
•HCV seropositivity was inversely associated with current non-injecting heroin use.
•Injecting cocaine was associated with behavior likely to transmit HCV.
•NYC has high rates of HCV infection among persons who began injecting since 2000.

Abstract
Objective
Assess hepatitis C virus (HCV) prevalence and incidence among person who began injecting drugs during the opioid epidemic in New York City (NYC) and identify possible new directions for reducing HCV infection among persons who inject drugs.

Methods
846 persons who began injecting drugs between 2000 and 2017 were recruited from persons entering Mount Sinai Beth Israel substance use treatment programs. A structured interview was administered and HCV antibody testing conducted. Protective effects of non-injecting drug use were examined among persons who “reversed transitioned” to non-injecting drug use and persons who used non-injected heroin in addition to injecting.

Results
Participants were 79% male, 41% White, 15% African-American, 40% Latinx, with a mean age of 35. Of those who began injecting in 2000 or later, 97 persons (11%) “reverse transitioned” back to non-injecting drug use. Reverse transitioning was strongly associated with lower HCV seroprevalence (30% versus 47% among those who continued injecting, p < 0.005). Among those who continued injecting, HCV seropositivity was inversely associated with current non-injecting heroin use (AOR = 0.72, 95%CI 0.52-0.99). HCV incidence among persons continuing to inject was estimated as 13/100 person-years. HCV seropositive persons currently injecting cocaine were particularly likely to report behavior likely to transmit HCV.

Conclusions
Similar to other locations in the US, NYC is experiencing high rates of HCV infection among persons who have begun injecting since 2000. New interventions that facilitate substitution of non-injecting for injecting drug use and that reduce transmission behavior among HCV seropositives may provide additional methods for reducing HCV transmission.

Greg Jefferys: Purchasing Hep C Generics

Update - In The News
Monday, September 24, 2018

Gilead Subsidiary to Launch Authorized Generics of Epclusa® (Sofosbuvir/Velpatasvir) and Harvoni® (Ledipasvir/Sofosbuvir) for the Treatment of Chronic Hepatitis C 

-- List Price of Authorized Generics to Reflect Discounts in the System Today -- 

Greg Jefferys: Purchasing Hep C Generics

Hepatitis C advocate Greg Jefferys launched a new video providing an overview on how to purchase affordable Hepatitis C medicines, such as Harvoni or Epclusa through "Affordable Medical Access International".

His Story

Hi, my name is Greg Jefferys and this website was originally created to record my experiences after I discovered I was infected with Hepatitis C back in August 2014 and what happened as I progressed through the shock of the initial Hep C diagnosis to trying to find an effective and affordable Hepatitis C treatment such as generic Harvoni or Epclusa.

In May 2015 I found myself in India where I purchased generic Sovaldi (Sofosbuvir 400 mg) and twelve weeks later I was cured. Because I was the first person who publicly traveled to India to buy generic Hep C medication my journey received quite a lot of media attention around the world and soon I was getting hundreds of emails every day from people who needed reliable information about buying generic Hepatitis C medicine and about Hepatitis C treatment options generally.

As a direct result of these requests for assistance I started a business called Affordable Medical Access International. Through this business I can supply you with these new Hepatitis C medicines, such as Harvoni or Epclusa. I can deliver to anyone in any country at a fair price with shipping insurance and guaranteed delivery.

Greg Jefferys 

Published on Sep 11, 2018

Hep C Home Page

https://www.generichepatitiscdrugs.com/

Facebook Page

https://www.facebook.com/greg.jefferys

Greg is also a blogger at Hep Blogs

https://www.hepmag.com/blogger/greg-jefferys 

On This Blog
The controversy over expensive new drugs for hepatitis C
Link to a collection of research articles regarding the effectiveness and safety of generic hepatitis C medicines. Read news articles addressing the high cost, insurance restrictions; private insurers/Medicaid and availability of generic versions/India, Egypt and other lower-income countries or through online "buyers clubs"