This page is an archive. Its content may no longer be accurate and was last updated on the original publication date. It is intended for reference and as a historical record only. For hep C questions, call Help4Hep BC at 1-888-411-7578.
A new line of drugs achieving a 90 per cent plus cure rate in hepatitis C will be available for free in the Waikato from next year.
The Waikato District Health Board will provide a new integrated service for treating hepatitis C across the Waikato and wider Midland area.
The service includes a first diagnosis, a liver elastography scan to determine the severity of the disease, and lifestyle education.
Those assessed as eligible for treatment, will be given two direct acting antiviral drugs – found to have a 90 per cent plus cure rate in hepatitis C.
Dr Frank Weilert, a Waikato gastroenterologist, said the new drugs were a vast improvement on past pharmaceuticals used to treat hepatitis C.
The new drugs, combined with the region-wide integrated service, held the promise of eradicating the disease over the next five to 10 years.
“The cure rate for the 12-week treatment will be in the order of 95 per cent compared with 50 per cent with the older treatment,” Weilert said.
“So there’s been a big leap in the effectiveness of the drugs, there are fewer side effects so patients are able to continue working, and the treatment is simplified.”
The 12-week drug treatment costs between $30,000 to $50,000 and is fully funded by Pharmac.
The only cost to patients could be a prescription fee.
Weilert said it didn’t matter how patients contracted hepatitis C.