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Friday, December 16, 2016
News Recap
Canada
Lawyers representing the pre86/post90 group in the Canadian tainted blood compensation debacle issued a MEDIA ADVISORY on December 14, 2016 seeking more people to interview for special hearings in Toronto on December 15 – 16. The hearings will also be broadcast in courtrooms in Edmonton, Vancouver, and Montreal (Hepatitis-C Tainted Blood Victims Fight Ottawa for Solution to $220M Fund Shortfall). Also in Canada, most probably as a result of the fentanyl/carfentanil explosion, Federal Health Minister Jane Philpott and Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale announced Bill C-37, an Act to amend the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, in order to legally implement safe injection sites in Canada (Philpott, Goodale announce changes to laws to make safe injection sites easier to open). This is WAY overdue!!
Treatment News
From the uh-oh department: A University of Rhode Island pharmacy professor has discovered potential complications in sofosbuvir-containing regimens (NOT AGAIN!). The Hepatitis C drug sofosbuvir can adversely interact with HIV drug tenofovir disoproxil (Viread), which is used to treat HIV/AIDS (Hepatitis C and HIV medications can be adversely interacted when used together, URI pharmacy professor reports).
Good news for GT 2 patients! Sofosbuvir/ribavirin treatment is typically prescribed for 12 weeks, but researchers have recommended that patients with severe liver disease (cirrhosis) up the duration to 16 to 20 weeks, which has much better results (Longer Treatment Duration Cures More Patients with Hepatitis C Genotype 2 and Cirrhosis).
Also in treatment news: Zepatier has been approved for use in New Zealand for genotypes 1, 3 and 4, but is not yet covered by PHARMAC (NZ: Zepatier Now Approved in New Zealand); and doctors at Intermountain Medical Center in Salt Lake City have found a way to safely use a damaged liver to replace a dying liver, then cure the damaged liver of its disease (New approach to liver transplantation: Using a damaged liver to replace a dying liver).
And just to keep things in perspective, people with hepatitis C are not the only patient group that suffers from effects of exorbitant drug pricing: For the Record: Despite Clinical Benefit, Targeted Therapies May Increase Financial Toxicity in CLL discusses the financial burden of chronic lymphocytic leukemia, and provides a good perspective for people with hepatitis C. Oral targeted therapies will increase survival rates dramatically in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), though they will also substantially increase the cost of CLL management for both patients and payers, according to a study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
The last word? Not!
Merck wins $2.54 billion in hepatitis C drug trial against Gilead
In yet another court decision in the ongoing patent dispute between Merck and Gilead, Merck was awarded $2.54 billion in royalties by a federal jury in a patent lawsuit against Gilead over Gilead’s blockbuster hepatitis C drugs Sovaldi and Harvoni. The jury in Delaware reached the verdict following a nearly two-week trial, finding that a patent acquired by Merck in 2014 on hepatitis C treatments was valid. Okay, wait for it! “Gilead spokeswoman Michele Rest said the company disagreed with the verdict and would appeal it. She said it did not stop Gilead from continuing to sell its drugs.” And round and round we go!