8 responses to “You too can help eliminate Hepatitis C by 2030”

  1. Clear concise summary of status of HCV. Thank you

  2. We already screen for HepC and HIV when pts arrive in our ER, but after reading this article, I wonder if we can “up the ante” on follow-ups. I think we just assume someone looks at the results and takes care of it.

  3. The clients I attend are youth, this treatment appears to be focused on the client being mature. What algorithm would address a younger population i.e. youth 12-18?

  4. ‘To be on track with HCV elimination targets, a country must diagnose 90% of its infected population and treat 80% without any restrictions on treatment based on disease severity.’ As a primary care provider and addiction medicine physician, I see an unmet need in this area. I am inspired to be good enough to diagnose and treat Hepatitis C!

  5. As a family doc who treats hep c, this is insulting! To have a specialist imply specialist should treat hep c is old fashioned and will NOT result in 2030 targets.

  6. We were invited to provide an article that reflected how medical advancements affected our practice at the Vancouver General Hospital. The article was reviewed and we were invited to make revisions based on the reviewers’ comments. The version that is posted incorporated the comments of the reviewers.

    In regards to hepatitis C therapy with direct acting antiviral agents, Pharamcare restricts their approval of these drugs to gastroenterologists, infectious disease specialists and those with experience in treating hepatitis C. We stated in our article that in the future, we felt that this restriction could be removed.

    In regards to who treats patients with chronic hepatitis C, under the current system, specialists can only see patients if they are referred whereas family physicians have the choice of referring patients to specialists or deciding to treat these patients on their own. Some family physicians may have undertaken extra training in this area and may feel very comfortable prescribing antiviral therapy and monitoring these patients throughout treatment (and Pharmcare would consider them as “specialists”). It would not be inappropriate for those family physicians to exclusively manage these patients.

    Many family physicians, however, may not feel as comfortable managing these patients alone and it is certainly not inappropriate for those family physicians to refer them onto specialists. It was not our intention to enter into a discussion about medical politics but rather to provide education about the new developments in hepatitis and the stated goal of the World Health Organization to eradicate hepatitis C by 2030.

    In response to another question, yes, the direct acting antiviral agents are safe and appropriate for youths but pregnancy must be avoided during treatment.

  7. These DAAs have been such a game changer!

    I’ve caught a few previously unknown HCV infections in patients screened for risk factors in ER and one in a patient screened based on age alone (based on the CASL guideline, and in contravention of the CTFPHC guideline). The screening recommendation above was a sneaky blend of the two guidelines, as the CTFPHC guideline actually DOESN’T include age/birth year as a high risk criterion – CASL is the one that recommends screening for those born between 1945-1975.

  8. Advance notice: elbasvir-grazoprevir (Zepatier®) delisting
    https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/health/health-drug-coverage/pharmacare/newsletters/news22-006.pdf

    PharmaCare will delist elbasvir-grazoprevir (Zepatier®) 50 mg/100 mg tablet on August 1, 2022, because of the manufacturer’s decision to remove it from market.

    In April 2022, Merck Canada Inc. announced it was ceasing the sale of Zepatier, after evaluating clinical use and the availability of alternative therapies. The decision was not related to any quality or safety issues, the company stated.
    Zepatier was listed as a limited coverage drug on March 1, 2017, as part of a coverage expansion of direct-acting antivirals for chronic hepatitis C (CHC).

    Zepatier can still be sold—and will still be covered by PharmaCare—until July 31, 2022, by which the manufacturer estimates remaining inventory will be depleted.

    The Adults with Chronic Hepatitis C information sheet (PDF, 129KB) will be updated on August 1, to reflect Zepatier’s new non-benefit status.

Leave a Reply