Monthly Archives: June 2012

New law could affect victims of hepatitis C

Posted on by June 29, 2012

Hospitals can approach patients with cash offers

 – maximum offer is $140,000,
– five-day limit for patients to decide whether they want to take the so-called early offer
EXETER — Patients infected with hepatitis C in
Exeter Hospital’s cardiac catheterization laboratory may be the first in
the state to receive “early offers” for settlements of malpractice
claims under new state law.
The law was
enacted Wednesday when a majority of the House of Representatives voted
to override a veto by Gov. John Lynch. The governor had said the
legislation “lacks certain fundamental safeguards that are necessary to
protect injured patients.”
Read more….
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EASL-AASLD Special Conference on Therapy of Hepatitis C: Clinical application and drug development

Posted on by June 29, 2012

September 14-16, 2012 Prague, Czech Republic

The European Association for the
Study of the Liver (EASL), together with the American Association for
the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD), has decided to organise an exciting
“Special Conference” dedicated to a timely topic: Therapy of Hepatitis C: Clinical Application and Drug Development.

We hope you will find this meeting of
interest; during the two days of the conference, leading international
experts involved in Hepatitis C, will highlight and address a
series of lectures, but will also participate in interactive debates on
hot topics. Case presentations and parallel interactive sessions will
take place and space will be reserved for poster presentations of
original works in the field.

Read more….

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Medivir announces an interferon-free phase II combination trial with TMC435 and daclatasvir to commence shortly

Posted on by June 29, 2012

· The phase II interferon-free combination study with TMC435 and
daclatasvir will evaluate treatment-naïve or previous null responder
patients with HCV genotype 1a and 1b

· The study will include
approx. 180 patients and will evaluate a combination of TMC435 and
daclatasvir, with or without Ribavirin, in four different cohorts for 12
or 24 weeks of treatment

Stockholm, Sweden – Medivir AB
(OMX:MVIR), the research-based pharmaceutical company focused on the
development of high-value treatments for infectious diseases, announces
that a phase II combination study with the investigational compound
TMC435 and Bristol-Myers Squibb’s investigational compound daclatasvir
will start in July. This study is part of the clinical collaboration
agreement between Janssen R&D Ireland and Bristol-Myers Squibb
Company (NYSE:BMY) announced on 2 December 2011 and on 18 April 2012.

TMC435 and daclatasvir (BMS-790052)
TMC435,
a once daily potent NS3/4A protease inhibitor (PI) in phase III
clinical development for the treatment of chronic genotype-1 hepatitis C
virus (HCV) infection, will be investigated in an interferon free phase
II trial in combination with Bristol-Myers Squibb´s investigational
NS5A replication complex inhibitor, daclatasvir (BMS-790052), also in
phase III development.

The purpose of this study is to assess the
efficacy and safety of TMC435 and daclatasvir in combination with or
without Ribavirin in chronic genotype-1 hepatitis C infected patients
who are treatment-naive or null responders to previous Peginterferon
alfa/Ribavirin therapy.

Study design
In this open label phase
II study the potential to achieve sustained viral response (SVR), 12
(SVR12) and 24 (SVR24) weeks post treatment in treatment-naïve and null
responder patients infected with HCV genotype 1a and 1b will be
evaluated. Patients with advanced liver disease (F3/F4) will be allowed
up to approx. 35% of the total treated population.

Cohort one and
two will include patients with genotype 1b where TMC435 and daclatasvir
will be dosed with or without Ribavirin for 12 weeks with a 36 weeks
follow-up or for 24 weeks with a 24 weeks follow-up.

Cohort three
and four will include patients with genotype 1a where TMC435,
daclatasvir and Ribavirin will be dosed for 12 or 24 weeks with a 24
weeks post treatment follow-up.

For additional information from these recently updated studies, please see www.clinicaltrials.gov

For more information about Medivir, please contact:

Medivir Rein Piir, EVP Corporate Affairs & IR Mobile: +46 708 537 292
M:Communications medivir@mcomgroup.com
Europe: Mary-Jane Elliott, Amber Bielecka, Hollie Vile +44(0)20 7920 2330

Read complete release here

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Hepatitis C patients petition for life-saving drug combination

Posted on by June 29, 2012

SAN ANTONIO — South Texas patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV) have launched a petition to speed up development of some promising new drugs. They believe a pharmaceutical company is putting profits ahead of people.
Hepatitis C is a virus that attacks the liver. It’s the number one reason for liver transplants in the U.S. It kills more people than AIDS.

Two promising pills from two different drug makers showed a 100 percent cure rate in early clinical trials when combined. GS-7977 is made by Gilead. Daclatasvir is from Bristol-Myers Squibb. But the companies have each invested millions and cannot agree on moving forward to get the winning combination to patients which could save their lives.

Read more….

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Supreme Court upholds healthcare law in Obama triumph

Posted on by June 28, 2012

(Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court upheld President Barack Obama’s healthcare law on Thursday in an election-year triumph for him and fellow Democrats and a stinging setback for Republican opponents of the most sweeping overhaul of the unwieldy U.S. healthcare system in about a half century. 

 In a 5-4 ruling based on the power of Congress to impose taxes, the court preserved the law’s “individual mandate” requiring that most Americans obtain health insurance by 2014 or pay a tax.

Opponents of the law had argued the mandate was an overreach by the federal government into the private lives of citizens. The court was deeply divided on this issue, but the majority ruled that Congress’ taxing power was more important.

Read more…

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Exeter hepatitis C infections rise to 21

Posted on by June 28, 2012

EXETER – Another person has been diagnosed
with the same strain of hepatitis C linked to an outbreak at Exeter
Hospital, bringing the total number of those infected to 21, state
health officials announced Wednesday.

The latest patient was
identified through testing being done on more than 1,000 patients who
visited the hospital’s cardiac catheterization lab and recovery room
between Oct. 1, 2010 and May 25, 2012.

Read more…

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Hepatitis C doctor talks about positive outcomes

Posted on by June 27, 2012

EXETER — A Boston doctor known
internationally for his work in treating hepatitis C patients offered
hope Tuesday night for victims of an outbreak at Exeter Hospital.

“Hepatitis
C is not a mandatory death sentence,” Dr. Raymond Chung of
Massachusetts General Hospital told a group of about 80 people who
turned out for a medical and legal information night at Exeter Town Hall
to learn more about the virus, treatment options and other information
as fears continue to spread.

Read more here

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New National Hepatitis C Referral Resource Maps

Posted on by June 26, 2012
A new online resource for users all
over the country to quickly pinpoint geo-mapped locations that provide
the support and services most commonly sought by case managers,
counselors, educators, and persons affected by hepatitis C.

Fort Lauderdale, FL, June 26, 2012 –(PR.com)–
HealthPro Solutions is pleased to announce the launch of “Interactive
Referral Resource Maps,” a novel nation-wide resource helping patients
and providers locate important hepatitis C services. Visit www.healthpro-solutions.org/maps.

Andi
Thomas, HealthPro’s founder developed this new tool because “People
affected by hepatitis C, along with frontline workers, public health and
medical providers need easier access to comprehensive referral
information.”

Ms. Thomas acknowledges that while useful
information is available online, different portals share different types
of information. Her concept of combining and visually mapping
publically available data from reputable sources such as HRSA Bureau of
Primary Care, SAMHSA, CDC, American College of Gastroenterology, and CMS
was tested in a five-state pilot project in late 2011 with very
positive results.

By clicking on one of the state flags on the
main map page, users can to see the map for their home state in a
familiar and fully featured Google Maps display. All of the resource
icons appear on the map initially but can then be filtered by resource
type.

· Health clinic
· Physician
· Support group
· Drug treatment
· Viral hepatitis coordinator

Each
state map allows users to zoom in to find the closest resource location
for their needs. When a user clicks on a map icon, a pop up box
displays the name of the establishment or practice, the address, county,
phone, and notes including scope of services.

HealthPro
Solutions is a 501(c)3 nonprofit with a mission to assist people, and
organizations that serve them, in promoting health and reducing the
burden of chronic disease. HealthPro is a successor organization to
Hep-C ALERT (1997 -2011), formed to continue and expand the reach of its
strongest programs.

 
 
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