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Gilead Warns of Cardiac Issues With Sovaldi and Harvoni
The company has announced that patients on Sovaldi or Harvoni who were also on the heart medication amiodarone developed abnormally slow heartbeats. This warning by Gilead could limit the drug's use.
Gilead Sciences Inc. said 9 patients taking its hepatitis C drugs Harvoni or Sovaldi along with the heart treatment amiodarone developed abnormally slow heartbeats and 1 died of cardiac arrest. Three required a pacemaker to be inserted.
Gilead said in an e-mailed drug warning to healthcare providers on Friday that 6 cases of symptomatic bradycardia occurred within the first 24 hours of treatment and the remaining 3 within the first 2 to 12 days. The patients were all taking amiodarone, with 3 also using Harvoni, 5 receiving Sovaldi with Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.’s daclatasvir and 1 on Sovaldi with Johnson & Johnson’s Olysio. Gilead said the combinations aren’t recommended and it will update its product labeling.
Link to the Bloomberg report: http://bloom.bg/1y1kw25
HIV, Hepatitis C Testing Rates Remain Dismal Among Injection Drug Users
April 17th 2020Despite being at an increased risk for HIV and hepatitis C, persons who inject drugs (PWID) are tested at dismal rates for both: just 8.6% and 7.7%, respectively, according to data from 2010 to 2017. PWID who live in rural communities are more likely to face barriers to adequate testing and care for both diseases.
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Dr Rebekah Gee Offers an Inside Look at Louisiana's Subscription Payment Model for HCV Drugs
May 7th 2019We speak with Dr Rebekah Gee, secretary of the Louisiana Department of Health about the subscription payment model for hepatitis C virus drugs that the state has entered into with Asegua Therapeutics, a subsidiary of Gilead Sciences.
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