Hepatitis C

Real-world discontinuation of hepatitis C drugs was low, but it was 3 times more likely than in clinical trials and varied by patient characteristics.

Rates of hepatitis C virus (HCV) treatment in a commercially insured population doubled after availability of new direct-acting antivirals. Member out-of-pocket spending was kept low while the health plan bore 99% of spending on HCV medications.

Maine wants to take more control over its Affordable Care Act marketplace; Surgeon General Jerome Adams, MD, MPH, has issued an advisory against marijuana use in young people and pregnant people; the FDA is warning of rare occurrences of serious liver injury from use of 3 hepatitis C virus (HCV) drugs.

The August issue of The American Journal of Managed Care® (AJMC®) featured research on surprise medical billing policies, social determinants of health, and the value of chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapies, among other topics. Here are 5 findings from research published in the issue.

Late hepatitis C virus infection diagnosis points to a need for earlier screening and treatment before the onset of severe liver disease leading to high cost and diminished outcomes.

From 2013 to 2017, the population of US patients prescribed treatment for chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) changed, becoming predominantly treatment-naïve and having received care in nonacademic centers.

CMS has approved Washington state’s proposal for a subscription model to purchase hepatitis C virus (HCV) drugs; the American Medical Association (AMA) voted against a measure that would drop its decades-long stance against single-payer healthcare proposals; Maine has become the eighth state to legalize medically assisted suicide.

Epidemiological evidence suggests that hepatitus C infection may be a risk factor for developing Parkinson disease.

After a rural syringe service program was indefinitely suspended, individuals who inject drugs had a greater risk of contracting HIV and hepatitus C virus.

Here are 5 interesting findings from the February 2019 issue of AJMC®.

The February 2019 issue of The American Journal of Managed Care® (AJMC®) featured research on value-based arrangements, effects of cesarean delivery data, and more. Here are 5 findings from the research published in the issue.

In 2010, OxyContin was reformulated and an abuse-deterrent version was introduced, leading to an increase in heroin use and subsequent rise in hepatitis C infection rates.

The Medicaid population has significantly higher hepatitis C virus (HCV) prevalence and mortality rates than patients with private insurance. These data must be considered when policy makers assess providing additional support to Medicaid programs for HCV elimination.

A recent study looked to evaluate the real-world effectiveness of hepatitis C virus (HCV) treatment in patients with genotype 1 (HCV-1) infection.

Patients with the hepatitis C virus (HCV) who are on Medicaid in Oregon can expect to receive curative treatment in 2019 without having to wait for liver damage to set in.

The efficacy and safety of glecaprevir/pibrentasvir (G/P, sold as Mavyret) in the treatment of hepatitis C virus (HCV) has previously only been investigated in clinical trials. Thus far, no real-world data had been available until a group of researchers looked to investigate the efficacy and safety of G/P in a real-world setting in Italy.

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is the most frequently reported bloodborne infection in the United States, and prevalence has increased in recent years. Researchers recently sought to estimate the prevalence of HCV at the state level in order to more accurately guide prevention and care efforts.

Existing data are limited on the treatment of chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) in patients with cancer. In a study recently published in Nature, researchers sought to evaluate the safety and efficacy of a sofosbuvir (Sovaldi)-based therapy in this patient population.

A combined analysis of data gathered from the Canadian Health Measures Survey and the US–National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey found a 2.5% to 3.5% increase in the 10-year risk of cardiovascular disease in patients with a hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection.

A kidney transplant patient treated with direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) for a chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection showed reactivation of the hepatitis B virus (HBV), which proved fatal. The authors of the report recommend a call to action for including HBV testing as part of the patient’s work-up in transplant recipients who are on immunosuppressants, especially in the context of abnormal liver tests.

A recent retrospective review of patients who contracted hepatitis C (HCV) in childhood found that those with perinatal infection developed cirrhosis earlier than other risk groups.

To better understand the characteristics of patients with chronic kidney disease who require hemodialysis or renal transplant, researchers in Brazil evaluated the prevalence of resistance-associated substitutions to direct-acting antivirals in this population who also carry the hepatitis C virus (HCV).

According to a new study presented at The Liver Meeting, combining universal screening for the hepatitis C virus (HCV) with reflex RNA PCR in pregnant women is more cost-effective than risk-based screening.

A new study found that in 50% of patients, the standard 12-week treatment regimen for hepatitis C could be shortened to as few as 6 weeks without compromising efficacy.

Research presented at The Liver Meeting, held by the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, found high rates of adherence, treatment completion, and sustained virologic response among patients infected with the hepatitis C virus (HCV) who inject drugs. These findings led authors to recommend inclusion of this subset of patients in HCV treatment programs.

Preliminary data from a new study has demonstrated that pre-emptive administration of pan-genotypic, direct-acting antiviral therapy prevents hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in HCV-negative cardiac transplant patients receiving donor hearts infected with the virus.

In this analysis of patients with newly diagnosed hepatitis C, linkage to care was largely successful in the 1945-1965 birth cohort, but treatment initiation remained low. Check out our website’s new table/figure pop-up feature! Click on the name of a table or figure in the text to see it in your browser.

Less than 2 months after receiving a report showing that pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) in Ohio billed taxpayers 8.8% more for medications used by those in the state’s Medicaid program, the state this week said it is ending its contracts with all of its PBMs and starting over in transparent contracts.

An optimized hepatitis C virus screening and linkage-to-care process reduces the number of patients lost to follow-up and improves linkage to care for Medicare, Medicaid, and commercially insured patients.