Amanda Mills/Center for Disease Control and Prevention
A blood test can determine if you have hepatitis C, a disease that kills more people than HIV.
by Kristen Kellar
Feb 23, 2012
Two new hepatitis C treatment drugs may be worth increased side effects and an additional cost of $4,000 per week because they may save time and money in the long run, Stanford University researchers have found.
A study released in Tuesday's issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine aimed to determine the cost effectiveness of two drugs, boceprevir and telaprevir, that were approved by the Federal Drug Administration in 2011. They would complement the existing two-drug treatment of ribavirin and peginterferon alfa, which is effective less than 50 percent of time in clearing the infection.
The addition of one of the two new drugs could raise the effectiveness to 75 percent, said Dr. Daniel Ganger, practice director of hepatology at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.
Hepatitis C is a viral disease that can lead to inflammation of the liver and affects between 3 to 4 million people in the United States, according to government reports. A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study found that more people died from hepatitis C between 1999 and 2007 than from HIV.
"Chronic hepatitis C has a major health impact on those infected, and treatments are expensive, have substantial side-effects, and are not always effective,” said Jeremy Goldhaber-Fiebert, assistant professor of medicine at Stanford, who worked on the study. “The newer drugs are exciting because of their greater potential effectiveness, though their side-effect profiles and higher costs also need to be considered carefully.”
The addition of either boceprevir and telaprevir would decrease the time of treatment. Ganger said the two-drug treatment takes about 48 weeks whereas some patients can complete the new three-drug process in about 24 weeks.
He said that nine out of 10 patients who start the treatment are able to complete it.
“Curing hepatitis C is beneficial, so why not try?” he said, even if the third drug can cause different side effects.
Ganger said some patients complain of feeling more tired than prior to treatment, and may suffer from depression and anemia. “They end up taking many more vitamins than before,” he said.
Those who have more advanced stages of the hepatitis C infection would find the treatment most cost effective, said Goldhaber-Fiebert.
The addition of boceprevir would add an estimated $1,100 a week to the cost of treatment or telaprevir could run $4,100 more a week, resulting in a total treatment cost of nearly $60,000 for those with advanced fibrosis, said the study.
Still, that’s better than paying more than $100,000 for a liver transplant, said Goldhaber-Fiebert.
Ganger said that many insurance companies would cover the two new treatments. He said: “We don’t start [the treatment] until we know they’re covered by insurance.”
Patients who have any degree of liver damage, a sign that the virus has progressed, would be considered for the treatment, Ganger said.
He said most people who have hepatitis C don’t know it; most physicians don’t test for it. But he offers hope for people who do: “It is treatable. It’s a difficult thing to do, but it ends.”
Two new hepatitis C treatment drugs may be worth increased side effects and an additional cost of $4,000 per week because they may save time and money in the long run, Stanford University researchers have found.
A study released in Tuesday's issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine aimed to determine the cost effectiveness of two drugs, boceprevir and telaprevir, that were approved by the Federal Drug Administration in 2011. They would complement the existing two-drug treatment of ribavirin and peginterferon alfa, which is effective less than 50 percent of time in clearing the infection.
The addition of one of the two new drugs could raise the effectiveness to 75 percent, said Dr. Daniel Ganger, practice director of hepatology at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.
Hepatitis C is a viral disease that can lead to inflammation of the liver and affects between 3 to 4 million people in the United States, according to government reports. A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study found that more people died from hepatitis C between 1999 and 2007 than from HIV.
"Chronic hepatitis C has a major health impact on those infected, and treatments are expensive, have substantial side-effects, and are not always effective,” said Jeremy Goldhaber-Fiebert, assistant professor of medicine at Stanford, who worked on the study. “The newer drugs are exciting because of their greater potential effectiveness, though their side-effect profiles and higher costs also need to be considered carefully.”
The addition of either boceprevir and telaprevir would decrease the time of treatment. Ganger said the two-drug treatment takes about 48 weeks whereas some patients can complete the new three-drug process in about 24 weeks.
He said that nine out of 10 patients who start the treatment are able to complete it.
“Curing hepatitis C is beneficial, so why not try?” he said, even if the third drug can cause different side effects.
Ganger said some patients complain of feeling more tired than prior to treatment, and may suffer from depression and anemia. “They end up taking many more vitamins than before,” he said.
Those who have more advanced stages of the hepatitis C infection would find the treatment most cost effective, said Goldhaber-Fiebert.
The addition of boceprevir would add an estimated $1,100 a week to the cost of treatment or telaprevir could run $4,100 more a week, resulting in a total treatment cost of nearly $60,000 for those with advanced fibrosis, said the study.
Still, that’s better than paying more than $100,000 for a liver transplant, said Goldhaber-Fiebert.
Ganger said that many insurance companies would cover the two new treatments. He said: “We don’t start [the treatment] until we know they’re covered by insurance.”
Patients who have any degree of liver damage, a sign that the virus has progressed, would be considered for the treatment, Ganger said.
He said most people who have hepatitis C don’t know it; most physicians don’t test for it. But he offers hope for people who do: “It is treatable. It’s a difficult thing to do, but it ends.”
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