Thalassemia Patients and Friends
Discussion Forums => Thalassemia-related Issues => Topic started by: Sharmin on April 13, 2014, 10:41:08 PM
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Good news for hepatitis C patients!!
Have We Cured Hepatitis C? New Treatment Has Over 90% Success Rate
By Dana Dovey | Apr 12, 2014 01:00 AM EDT
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A new hepatitis C treatment has cured over 90 percent of patients after a 12-week period. Photo courtesy of Shutterstock
Hepatitis C is the number one cause of cirrhosis, liver transplants, and liver cancer in the United States. It is an infection caused by a virus that attacks the liver and leads to inflammation. According to the World Health Organization, 130 to 150 million people suffer globally from chronic hepatitis C infections, and 350,000 to 500,000 people die each year from hepatitis C-related liver disease. Interferon is the traditional treatment for the virus, but many patients, such as those with cirrhosis, cannot take it. A revolutionary new treatment is changing medicine. In its clinical trial, this new treatment has cured over 90 percent of patients with cirrhosis who were not able to receive interferon therapy.
Interferon was previously the only effective treatment against hepatitis C. Some patients, such as those with cirrhosis (liver scarring), experience relapse or have many negative side effects because of interferon treatment. The new treatment is completely interferon-free. A study on it will be released on April 12 in The New England Journal of Medicine. The study was conducted by the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio and had exceptional results. Twelve weeks after the last dose of treatment, no hepatitis C virus was detected in the bloodstream of 91.8 percent of patients. After the patients were treated for 24 weeks, 95.9 percent were found to be virus-free. “These are out-of-the-ballpark response rates, not on the same planet as interferon,” explained Dr. Fred Poordad, lead author of the study, in a press release.
The data involved the outcomes of 380 patients at 78 different sites, including hospitals in Spain, Germany, England, Canada, and the U.S. The study documented patients’ blood samples over a three-year period and found that in that time none experienced a long-term, late relapse.
Many of the patients who had taken part in the study were unsure about the new treatment. They had tried many treatments before that promised miracle results that were never delivered. The high recovery rate of the new treatment changed the skeptics’ minds and has given hope to the current population living with the disease. “I feel very lucky to be living in this time, because I was almost resigned to the idea that I could never be cured," Sergio Buentello, one of the patients in the study, said in the press release.
It is expected that the combination medication regimen will be on the market as early as the end of 2014 or very late in 2015.
http://www.medicaldaily.com/have-we-cured-hepatitis-c-new-treatment-has-over-90-success-rate-276170
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Thanks Sharmin. I had read that they were having good results, but this is incredible.
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Andy,
It made me think of so many of our members who can benefit from this treatment :)
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Time to spread the word on Facebook.
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This is wonderful news!
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Sharmin,
me too seriously thinking to go for Hep-c Treatment ... thanx for sharing this encouraging news... :)
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For those who are HepC positive but their PCRs are negative, do they still need to get any treatment? If not, what would be the significance for such patients of above mentioned trial that has shown tremendous results?
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Waleed, hepatitis can sit dormant in the body for years. Herbs like milk thistle and nigella can keep it under control, but the virus remains, and it is known to become active again in many people. The treatment will rid the body of the virus, thus eliminating a growing problem in an aging thal population, many who contracted Hep C from transfusions, which greatly increasing the chances of liver cancer later in life. We know of several friends who succumbed to liver cancer in their 40's and our friend, Poirot who recently had a liver transplant for the same reason. If this treatment is possible, it is probably best to take advantage of it.
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I read earlier that if PCR tests show negative for years then it means the virus is no longer present in the body and there are 20% such lucky cases where body cleanses itself of the virus; however, the antibody test for Hep C will always be positive. Now it makes me scared to know that it can come back again.
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Waleed,
Can you inquire whether you have access to this treatment?
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@ All ,
is this treatment approved to be practiced as a cure all around the world ?? ..
and
is this sumthing new and other than Sovaldi ???
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Yeah, it's a different combination of drugs than Sovaldi or Harvoni. We would need to learn more about its potential in thals before recommending it, because one side effect is lower hemoglobin levels.
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Andy ,,
thank you for a detailed reply ... :)
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Yeah, it's a different combination of drugs than Sovaldi or Harvoni. We would need to learn more about its potential in thals before recommending it, because one side effect is lower hemoglobin levels.
Hello Andy sir,
you have been participating in this topic also, its very interesting,
but with Ayurveda it is very easy to deal with Hepetitis C , even in hepatitis B and A too.
Ayurveda treatment+daily 1 hr Yoga for 6 months , its having amazing results in our institution,
most of our treatment were having yoga as a compulsory part of management, and those were in general people , am sure they will also work similarly for thals too, and the treatment cost will be much less than new coming treatments,
If i may help any one it will be my pleasure.