News
A new website has been launched that provides the latest information to help guide clinicians on treating patients with chronic hepatitis C and will be updated regularly with developments in this rapidly changing area of medicine.
A collaboration of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) and the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) with the International Antiviral Society-USA (IAS-USA), the website – HCVguidelines.org – provides evidence-based consensus recommendations for screening and treating people with hepatitis C virus (HCV).
Dr. Michael Saag
The recommendations were developed by a panel of 27 liver disease and infectious diseases specialists and a patient advocate and are intended for "health care providers who treat the disease and others who need updated information on the best practices," according to a statement issued by IDSA and AASLD announcing the launch of the website, which became available on Jan. 29. Examples of the information provided include guidance on the use of direct-acting HCV antivirals, with and without interferon for the most common type of HCV, genotype 1; treatment of different subgroups, such as those coinfected with HIV, those with decompensated liver disease, and liver transplant recipients; and regimens for treatment of interferon-ineligible and interferon-eligible patients.
The website is a living document and will be updated regularly with new recommendations that reflect new research, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approvals of new drugs, changing recommendations for monitoring patients, and other developments. This aspect is "absolutely necessary in this field" because of the many recent developments and multiple drugs that are in development and approaching approval, Dr. Michael Saag, the panel cochair for IAS-USA, said during a telephone briefing held to announce the launch.
Changes can be made weekly or monthly, "so that clinicians can have confidence that, when they go to this website, they will get the most accurate and up-to-date guidance on the treatment of hepatitis C," added Dr. Saag, professor of medicine and director of the division of infectious diseases at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
During the briefing, Dr. Henry Masur of the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Md., pointed out that, for the first time, treatments that cure hepatitis C are available, which are more effective than previous treatments and easier to tolerate. "What we’re eager to see is that these drugs are used by practitioners to treat the millions of patients who have hepatitis C both in North America and elsewhere ... and it’s important that clinicians have access to guidance on how best to use these drugs as new trials are quickly done and new information becomes available."
An estimated 3-4 million people in the United States are infected with HCV and could develop chronic liver disease; the cure rate for chronic HCV is now close to 95% with currently available treatments.
Noting that the next-generation antivirals have the potential to cure most patients with hepatitis C, Dr. David Thomas, professor of medicine and chair of the division of infectious diseases at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, said that the website is expected to be used not only by clinicians who are well versed in prescribing antiviral drugs, "but also by many who are inexperienced or even new to the treatment of hepatitis C." This includes gastroenterologists and infectious disease clinicians who have not been treating patients with hepatitis C and may include primary care physicians as well, he added. Dr. Thomas was the panel cochair for IDSA.
Recent developments in the treatment of hepatitis C include the FDA approvals of sofosbuvir and simeprevir late last year for treating chronic HCV, considered major advances in treatment.
The website is HCVguidelines.org. More information on hepatitis C is available at www.idsociety.org/HCV.
