Hepatitis/MASH

By offering quick and convenient tests for diseases such as influenza, HIV, and hepatitis C, community pharmacies could help improve prevention and treatment.

Bristol-Myers Squibb submitted NDAs for daclatasvir and asunaprevir. Although asunaprevir is limited to treatment of genotype-1 HCV, a combination of daclatasvir with sofosbuvir may be useful in a range of HCV genotypes.

Efficacy of standard dose can be suboptimal in patients with hepatitis C, study shows.

Patients with co-infection are 80% more likely to have serious liver disease than patients with hepatitis C alone, study finds.

Of the 3 to 4 million Americans with chronic HCV infection, only 13% to 18% have received treatment. Understanding the current guidelines in HCV treatment and understanding the current role of direct-acting antiviral agents is an important priority for pharmacists.

In 2013, many new medications and new indications were approved.

Should all patients should have access to all treatments, regardless of their cost?

Noting advances in hepatitis C treatment regimens, Walgreens expands access to its hepatitis C–focused patient care program.

A combination of daclatasvir and asunaprevir for type-1b hepatitis C virus infection has received breakthrough therapy designation by the FDA, meaning a faster path to approval.

The prevalence of hepatitis C virus varies significantly among different subtypes of Hispanics in the United States, a new study finds.

Fewer opioid treatment programs are offering onsite testing for HIV and sexually transmitted infections, despite guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommending routine HIV testing in all health care settings.

With the approval of several new therapies in hepatitis C, by late 2013, the 2011 hepatitis C treatment guidelines were well out of date. A multidisciplinary group of infectious disease specialists and hepatology specialists have changed that with a website offering treatment guideline updates at unprecedented speed.

Saliva tests for detecting anti–hepatitis C antibodies may not be as effective in patients who also have an HIV infection.

Close on the heels of Vertex Pharmaceuticals' and Bristol-Myers Squibb's announcement of 4-week sustained viral response (SVR4) results with VX-135 and daclatasvir, Medivir AB and Idenix Pharmaceuticals, Inc announce SVR4 results with simeprevir, ribavirin, and samatasvir.

The combination of Bristol-Myers Squibb's daclatasvir and Vertex Pharmaceuticals' VX-135 shows early promise as an all-oral ribavirin-free and interferon-free treatment for hepatitis C.

Combination therapy using Bristol-Myers Squibb's daclatasvir and Gilead Sciences Inc's sofosbuvir has attained a sustained viral response 12 weeks after the end of treatment (SVR12) in more than 90% of patients with hepatitis C, regardless of prior treatment.

Specialty pharmacists can help patients achieve successful outcomes in the treatment of hepatitis C by providing comprehensive clinical consultations on triple therapies.

Organ transplant patients face unique challenges and can benefit from the support of a specialized pharmacy team.

Specialty medications on the path to approval include 2 new hepatitis drugs.

A study comparing rates of contagious disease before and after the introduction of vaccines finds that vaccines have prevented more than 100 million disease cases in the United States over the past 90 years.

Aimee Tharaldson of Express Scripts explains why some hepatitis C patients who do not have signs of active disease may want to wait to receive treatment until later this year and early next year, when the FDA is expected to approve sofosbuvir and simeprevir for the treatment of this condition.

We will see a new wave of oral antiviral hepatitis C medicines hitting the market towards the end of this year and the beginning of next year, noted Aimee Tharaldson, PharmD, senior clinical consultant, Emerging Therapeutics, Express Scripts.

Results of a phase-2b trial reveal preliminary information about the efficacy of the combination treatment of faldaprevir and deleobuvir for hepatitis C virus infection.

Interstitial lung disease (ILD) is a known rare side effect of interferon treatment. Investigators confirmed the low incidence if ILD in patients with hepatitis C receiving interferon, but also recorded reductions in lung function in almost half of treated patients.

The FDA has added a new black box warning to 2 drugs, rituximab (Rituxan) and ofatumumab (Arzerra) for the potential of either drug to cause reactivation of hepatitis B virus (HBV).

Vaccination rates for children aged 19 to 35 months remained high in 2012, though they fell short for some vaccines and varied from state to state and based on family income.