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Friday, January 20, 2017
News Recap
Lots of troubling news this last week. From the Fut the Wuck department: Read this and Weep. Senior correctional officials at Correctional Service of Canada have made the decision not to provide clean drug-injection needles to prisoners to stem the spread of infectious disease because – are we ready? – doing so would make federal penitentiaries more dangerous places. Syringe needles could too easily be used as weapons, the Correctional Service of Canada’s security director and a veteran prison warden say in affidavits filed with the Federal Court of Canada. I weep! Clean needle programs too dangerous, federal prison officials tell court
And there is the sad story of Michelle Tolley in the UK. This is what happens to a person who is cured of hepatitis C after 29 years of ravaging by the virus!! Is anyone in Canada listening? TREAT NOW! A victim of the contaminated blood scandal, Michelle has been told she is now free of Hepatitis C – 29 years after she was given a transfusion. While she has to wait another six months to ensure no traces of the disease return, Michelle Tolley, 51, from Sparham said she is now “very hopeful.” However Michelle now has cirrhosis of the liver, gastritis, oesophageal disease and calcified gall stones. This is criminal! Blood victim finally told she is free of Hepatitis C – 29 years after becoming infected
And from the “should I worry” department: This is scary!! If this happens in Japan, could it happen in Canada or the USA? Counterfeits of the hepatitis C drug Harvoni have been found at a drugstore chain in Nara Prefecture, the health ministry said Tuesday. Harvoni is sold by a Japanese unit of U.S. pharmaceutical firm Gilead Sciences Inc. The ingredients of the counterfeits are now under examination. The ministry and Gilead are calling on patients, doctors and pharmacists to beware of the counterfeits. Japan: Hepatitis C drug fakes found in Nara drugstore chain
Webinar
An important event is coming up on strategies to address reimbursement restrictions for Hep C treatment. This webinar, taking place February 6th, 3:00 p.m. ET, by CATIE, CanHepC, CTAC and The Kirby Institute, will explore how Canada could move beyond its current restrictive and inconsistent approach to DAA access. The webinar will showcase the Australian model, which allows all people access to hepatitis C treatment, including people who inject drugs and people in prison. Click on the following link to learn more and to register: Strategies to address reimbursement restrictions for Hep C treatment: Lessons from Australia
Documentary
If you have not yet seen this excellent documentary on hepatitis C in Canada (Deal with it: Untold Stories of Hepatitis C in Canada), it is now available for free on Youtube. The documentary film “Deal with it” exposes the state of Canada’s Hepatitis C epidemic, one of the most pressing but least discussed health concerns facing the country today. Watch the entire film here for free! https://youtu.be/L9TZo3hFaYk
And last, from the “Dream On” department: In a recent article in Forbes, MIT Sloan School of Management visiting scientist Mark Trusheim and co-author Peter B. Bach, a physician at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, propose a startling response to the prevalence of hepatitis C and the high cost of the leading therapy: The U.S. government should not just pay for the pills — they should buy their maker. Does anyone remember who just got elected? Oy! How the U.S. can beat hepatitis C: Don’t buy the pills, buy the company