Check out what we have in store for you in the December Newsletter

Dear Advocaters,

It’s hard to believe that it’s December and 2017 is right around the corner.  It’s been a busy year at the HCV Advocate and this month’s issue is no exception.  Lucinda K. Porter RN and I have each picked some of our favorite abstracts from this year’s AASLD’s Liver Meeting.  Matthew Zielske’s article continues on the theme of research to discuss turning research and education into practice.

• The Five by Alan Franciscus – I have picked five abstracts that I think are some of the most interesting including alcohol and treatment, HBV reactivation during and after HCV treatment, patient descriptions of fatigue (my favorite), curing HCV and diabetes, and the cost of generic direct-acting antiviral medications.
• HealthWise by Lucinda K. Porter—AASLD – Lucinda has picked various abstracts such as payer treatment restrictions, pre-existing liver disease treatment and outcomes of breast cancer, hepatitis C reactivation in patients with cancer, alcohol and treatment outcome, fatigue, HAV and HBV vaccination in people with liver disease, and surveillance and screening of liver cancer.
• Under the Umbrella by Matthew Zielske –The challenges of proving what we know – Matthew writes about the importance of communication and some of the discrimination that people face when seeking information and medical care.
• HCV Advocate Pipeline has been updated with phase 2 information about AbbVie’s combination of glecaprevir plus pibrentasvir to treat genotype 1, 3,4, 5, and 6.  Hint – very high cure rates.
• What’s Up!
  • Check out our new Easy C fact sheets:
    • What are RAVs
    • Taking HCV Meds  – Adherence
  • We have updated our HCSP fact sheet:
    • Adherence to HCV Therapy

Coming Next Month

• The Top News Stories of 2016
• A New Fact Sheet Series:  Harm Reduction

Many thanks for your continued support,

Alan and the HCV Advocate team

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Check out what we have in store for you in the November Newsletter

Dear Advocaters,

Here we are in the fall and only days away from the election—finally!  Anyway, this issue of the HCV Advocate newsletter is, in my opinion, one of our best.  I hope you think so too!

Please find the following articles:

• HealthWise – Talking to Your Doctor About Hepatitis C Treatment, Getting What’s Best for You  by Lucinda K. Porter, RN — Lucinda discusses the importance of working with your doctor, how to fight insurance denials, helpful resources, and other important information.
• HCV Drugs  by Alan Franciscus — I discuss two studies—the first one is about Gilead’s salvage therapy to treat the small percentage of people who do not respond to the current standard of care.  The second study is an  AbbVie study that treated HCV genotype 1b patients for 8 weeks that resulted in very high cure rates.
• Snapshots by Alan Franciscus — I reviewed two studies:  The first one is a study conducted in the Veterans Affairs National Health Care System that evaluated all of the current (at that time) direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) medications to understand the cure rates and the ‘real-world’ results vs. results from the clinical trials.
• Under the Umbrella  HCV Community Education – Teaching and Learning by Matthew Zielske—Matthew shares his ideas and experiences as an educator.  Matthew has conducted our Train-the-Trainer Workshops in Indiana and Kentucky and we hope to expand the workshops throughout the United States in 2017.
• HCV Drug Pipeline Our Drug Pipeline has been updated with the information about the Gilead data from this month’s newsletter.
• What’s Up!
  • Check out our new Easy C fact sheet on the importance of testing for hepatitis B before initiating HCV direct-acting antiviral therapy.
  • We have also added many resources to our Trainers page including 2 slide sets—a short presentation and the longer that one we include in our Train-the-Trainer workshops.  We also have a list of resources.

Don’t forget to join us for coverage of the Liver Meeting.  We will be covering it on our News and Pipeline blog and in the December 2016 and January 2017 HCV Advocate Newsletter.

Cheers,

Alan and the staff of the HCV Advocate Newsletter

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