Hepatitis C Support Group
Hepatitis C is a blood-borne viral disease which can cause liver inflammation, fibrosis, cirrhosis and liver cancer. The hepatitis C virus (HCV) is spread by blood-to-blood contact with an infected person's blood. Many people with HCV infection have no symptoms and are unaware of the need to seek treatment. Hepatitis C infects an estimated 150-200 million people worldwide.
THURSDAY, April 10, 2014 (HealthDay News) -- Researchers report that an experimental drug has cured more than 95 percent of patients infected with hepatitis C, including some who failed other treatments.
If it wins approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, this new drug, called ABT-450, could potentially compete with another innovative hepatitis C medication that costs $1,000 a day.
"Interferon is no longer required to cure hepatitis C," said Dr. Stefan Zeuzem, a professor of medicine at the J.W. Goethe University Hospital in Frankfurt, Germany, and lead researcher on the ABT-450 study.
His research pairing ABT-450 with other interferon-free medications showed "almost all patients with chronic hepatitis C can be cured even if previous treatments were unsuccessful," Zeuzem said.
The report was published online April 10 in the New England Journal of Medicine, to coincide with presentation of the findings at the annual meeting of the European Association for the Study of the Liver in London. The drug trial was funded by the drug's maker, AbbVie.
http://www.webmd.com/hepatitis/news/20140410/cure-rate-for-experimental-hepatitis-c-drug-tops-95-percent
If it wins approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, this new drug, called ABT-450, could potentially compete with another innovative hepatitis C medication that costs $1,000 a day.
"Interferon is no longer required to cure hepatitis C," said Dr. Stefan Zeuzem, a professor of medicine at the J.W. Goethe University Hospital in Frankfurt, Germany, and lead researcher on the ABT-450 study.
His research pairing ABT-450 with other interferon-free medications showed "almost all patients with chronic hepatitis C can be cured even if previous treatments were unsuccessful," Zeuzem said.
The report was published online April 10 in the New England Journal of Medicine, to coincide with presentation of the findings at the annual meeting of the European Association for the Study of the Liver in London. The drug trial was funded by the drug's maker, AbbVie.
http://www.webmd.com/hepatitis/news/20140410/cure-rate-for-experimental-hepatitis-c-drug-tops-95-percent
The only drawback is that they are mutli pill with ABT-450 as the backbone and so far Ribavirin is still in the mix.
More options is definitely good for all though!
@Kramer, I like learning what other med professionals are excited about. my doc likes BMS drug DAC but that would be used with Solvadi making it another off-label combo.
Heck I don't mind 1,2,3,4,5 or 6 pills as long as sides are humane and it is an effective treatment!
My poor son, who isn't even technically a preteen yet, takes 9 pills a day for his multiple problems. I have to manage all the doses and times on that too. Then my hubby takes a plethora of blood pressure, gout, and antidepressants, so I feel like we live in a dang pharmacy!! I am used to managing everyone else's meds, but I seem to have a harder time with myself! Thank God I'm not doing injections!! Still I'll be glad when it's over and I hope it works the first time. :-)
I hope all the new treatments on horizon will do what they claim! It's an exciting time for all of us.
No ins co is going to pay 1k a pill if there are less expensive alternatives - even if the cure rates are not as great or the Tx a bit longer or tougher, i.e w/riba. They look at the bottom line: the total cost of tx per patient. The cost of not treating and cancer and transplants will not be in those equations, once there are viable txs for all GTs and hard to treat patients. So it will be IMO a battle of who can produce the most COST EFFECTIVE tx.
This is especially true internationally, in impoverished nations, as well as for incarcerated populations, homeless populations etc. I read that one US state (Wisconsin?) is mass testing and treating addicts in their needle exchange program, which makes sense.
The same article also noted a rise in HCV among younger drug users - which confirmed my repeated aggravation over the CDC suggesting "baby boomers' should be tested AS IF IV drug use was as outdated as untested blood transfusions. NOT!
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/823532
The Riba is NOT that bad without the interfeuron, I am serious.
I space out the 3 in the morning about 1/2 hour apart, and the evening also.
It is NOTHING last past tx.
Just wanted to put that out there for anyone as scared of taking Riba as was again.....I can't believe I am actually taking more Riba than in the past 1200 now vs. 800 in past. I couldn't handle 800 in past.
I am starting week 3 and I have to be on this 6 months.
Just thought I would put that out about the Riba, as I was terrified to take the Riba again, but I really can't complain.