December 15, 2010

Ontarians deserve better access to treatment for hepatitis B and C

December 15, 2010

ICES study calls for more prevention, more screening and more research but what about treatment?

Toronto, December 15, 2010: Hepatitis B and C are insidious diseases that have few symptoms until they reach an advanced and potentially fatal stage. The time it takes for these diseases to cause cirrhosis or liver cancer may be anywhere from two to 20 years -- more than enough time to intervene. Simple blood tests can identify the hepatitis B and C viruses and yet these tests are not a standard part of annual physicals. Effective treatments also exist for both chronic hepatitis B and C but they are not always accessible to those who need them. With the recent Institute of Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES) study ranking hepatitis B and C in the top five most burdensome infectious diseases, the Canadian Liver Foundation is calling upon the provincial government to establish standardized screening protocols and to make treatment more widely accessible for all Ontarians with hepatitis B and C.

“The ICES study should be an eye-opener for everyone,” says Dr. Morris Sherman, Chairman of the Canadian Liver Foundation and a hepatologist at Toronto General Hospital. “It shows that hepatitis B and C are major contributors to morbidity and mortality in Ontario. These diseases have not been a priority for our government despite the major toll they take on our population. The tragedy is that the power to reduce this human cost is within the grasp of government but they have yet to recognize it.”

The study calls for greater screening and preventative measures like immunization (in the case of hepatitis B) to tackle the problem. It is estimated that as many as one third of Ontarians with viral hepatitis do not realize that they have it. If all physicians incorporated hepatitis testing into standard physicals, more patients would be identified and those that had not been exposed to hepatitis B could be immunized. These measures would increase the early identification and intervention but are only part of the solution. Once identified, patients need to have access to affordable treatments in order to prevent the more serious consequences of their disease.

Hepatitis B is the leading cause of liver cancer – a form of cancer that is on the rise in Ontario. If diagnosed at an early stage however, hepatitis B and even liver cancer can be treated effectively. “There are excellent treatments available for hepatitis B that will prevent most of the potentially fatal complications of this disease,” says Dr. Sherman. “And yet, restrictions on funding for treatment exist in most provinces and in Ontario, those restrictions are so tight that most patients who need treatment cannot get reimbursement through the government. With a high proportion of hepatitis B patients coming from the Chinese immigrant community, these policies are particularly discriminatory. Without access to affordable and effective treatments, hepatitis B will continue to contribute to mortality in this province.”

The Canadian Liver Foundation agrees with the report’s recommendation for more funding for research. Hepatitis C is a good example of how investment in research can pay off in a short amount of time. From the virus first being identified in the 1980s, hepatitis C has seen dramatic steps forward in treatment with more on the way. “Improved treatment for hepatitis C is just a few years away,” says Dr. Sherman. “With these new treatments the cure rate will go up from about 45% to 75%. These breakthroughs will give us tremendous opportunity to reduce the burden of this disease but only if the treatments are available to patients regardless of their financial resources.”

“The ICES study sheds light on serious health issues that the Canadian Liver Foundation and the hepatology community have been aware of for some time,” says Dr. Sherman. “While we hope that this report will help open a dialogue on the financial and human costs of hepatitis B and C in this province, we call upon the government to act now to make appropriate treatment for hepatitis B and hepatitis C available to all those who need it to mitigate the effects of these diseases. If this study is repeated in the future, we do not want to see hepatitis B and hepatitis C in the top 10.”

For more information, contact
Melanie Kearns
416-491-3353 ext. 4923
mkearns@liver.ca

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