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.
Healthier people had also waited to use the older drugs, hoping for something to come along that would have fewer side effects.
Patients may not want to wait, said Ryan Clary, executive director of the National Viral Hepatitis Roundtable, a consumer group partially funded by the drug industry. Television advertisements sponsored by Gilead are encouraging people to be screened for hepatitis and to talk with their doctors about new treatment options. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that all baby boomers be tested for hepatitis C.
"If I was hepatitis C-positive and someone said there's this great treatment, but can you hold off because you're healthy and it might bankrupt the system ... patients don't think like that," said Clary, who spoke at the forum.
Private insurers, as well as those serving Medicaid patients, are wrestling with how to cover the new drugs. Many say they will require prior approval and may be limited to the sickest patients. Some Medicaid insurers have asked states for additional help in paying for the drugs.
A draft report prepared in advance of the San Francisco forum estimates that if every patient in California with advanced liver damage were treated, the cost would be $6.3 billion.
The panel's recommendations including votes on questions about the effectiveness of the new treatments compared with older regimens will be released within a month.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2014/03/12/289436931/healthier-patients-may-have-to-wait-for-costly-hepatitis-c-drugs
Patients may not want to wait, said Ryan Clary, executive director of the National Viral Hepatitis Roundtable, a consumer group partially funded by the drug industry. Television advertisements sponsored by Gilead are encouraging people to be screened for hepatitis and to talk with their doctors about new treatment options. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that all baby boomers be tested for hepatitis C.
"If I was hepatitis C-positive and someone said there's this great treatment, but can you hold off because you're healthy and it might bankrupt the system ... patients don't think like that," said Clary, who spoke at the forum.
Private insurers, as well as those serving Medicaid patients, are wrestling with how to cover the new drugs. Many say they will require prior approval and may be limited to the sickest patients. Some Medicaid insurers have asked states for additional help in paying for the drugs.
A draft report prepared in advance of the San Francisco forum estimates that if every patient in California with advanced liver damage were treated, the cost would be $6.3 billion.
The panel's recommendations including votes on questions about the effectiveness of the new treatments compared with older regimens will be released within a month.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2014/03/12/289436931/healthier-patients-may-have-to-wait-for-costly-hepatitis-c-drugs
I think all the millions of of people with hep c should be tested and aware, but in most cases hep c never turns into cirrhosis, if it does it takes 20+ years usually, and sometimes the virus spontaneously clears the body. So there doesn't necessarily have to be a mad rush for the cure for anyone with hep c. A liver ultrasound would be appropriate, and liver function tests, and counseling about not spreading the virus, but it's not an urgent situation most of the time until the cost of these drugs stabilizes.
I would prefer to wait if I could afford to wait. We don't know what the SVR rates are for 3 yr or 5 yr followups even.
im guessing now that this might mean im in need of newer and more effective tx. ive ridden infergen daily straight to hell with no results. hell kicked me out, said i made a power grab at the devils position.