HCV News
Week Ending 01/25/2015
Vertical Transmission of HCV: The Next Big Treatment Frontier
'Novel antiviral therapies with overwhelmingly positive sustained virologic response rates have dominated headlines in hepatitis C virus for the past few years, but many experts said eradication efforts may never completely succeed until the clinical community deals with vertical transmission of the disease.'
Mothers infecting children with hepatitis C in Egypt
'A new study published today suggests that between 3,000 and 5,000 Egyptian children could be infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV) annually through mother-to-child transmission.This vertical transmission is believed to occur during pregnancy, childbirth or during the postpartum period, via blood transfer when breastfeeding through cracked or bleeding nipples, since the virus does not pass through breast milk.'
Researchers unravel complicated relationship between diabetes and HCV
'The relationship between diabetes and hepatitis C virus is a complicated one. Despite years of research involving a host of studies and meta-analyses, the clinical community has failed to reach a consensus on the nature of the association between the two diseases'
AbbVie Gains EU Approval for Hepatitis C Virus Treatment - Analyst Blog
'AbbVie's all-oral, short-course, interferon-free hepatitis C virus (HCV) treatment is now approved in the EU under the trade name Viekirax + Exviera. The treatment can be used with or without ribavirin (RBV) in patients with genotype 1 (GT1) chronic HCV infection, including those with compensated liver cirrhosis.'
FDA Approves Roche's Blood Screening Assay for Simultaneous Detection and Identification of Three Major Viral Targets
'Roche announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the cobas® TaqScreen MPX Test, v2.0 for use in the detection and identification of HIV, HCV, and HBV in donations of human whole blood and blood components including source plasma. This latest version of the cobas TaqScreen MPX Test provides increased sensitivity and is the only FDA approved test to simultaneously detect and identify the most critical viral targets in one simple, ready-to-use assay.'
Prime Therapeutics to supply both Harvoni and Viekira Pak for HCV
'Prime Therapeutics LLC has entered into agreements with Gilead Sciences for the sale of Harvoni, and with AbbVie for the sale of Viekira Pak. The agreements enable both drugs to be available through the pharmacy benefit management company for the treatment of hepatitis C virus infection, according to a press release.'
Gilead Expands Hepatitis C Generic Licensing Deal To Include Pan-Genotypic Agent
'Gilead Sciences Inc. (GILD: Quote) announced that it has expanded its hepatitis C generic licensing agreements to include the investigational NS5A inhibitor GS-5816, which is being evaluated in Phase 3 clinical studies as part of a single tablet regimen that combines the compound and sofosbuvir for the treatment of all six genotypes of hepatitis C.'
HCV mortality rates stabilized or increased across three regions
'Liver-related mortality rates after hepatitis C virus infection diagnosis were either stabilized or increased during a period of time in Scotland, Australia and Canada, according to a study published in the Journal of Hepatology'
