Organization
to Achieve Solutions in Substance-Abuse
520 27th St.
Oakland,
CA 94612
December 17, 2014 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Andrew Reynolds
415.312.3445
A Coalition of Patients, Advocates, Medical Providers, and Community
Groups Call for Equal Access to Curative Treatments for all People Living with
Hepatitis C
Oakland, CA—O.A.S.I.S Clinic, the San Francisco Hepatitis
C Task Force, the San Francisco Drug Users Union, and Project Inform call for
equal access to curative hepatitis C treatments for all people living with the virus,
particularly people who inject drugs, and ask government officials, public
payers, private insurers, and pharmaceutical companies to work together to make
HCV treatment affordable and accessible for all.
On Thursday, December 18, 2014 the California Technology Assessment
Forum (CTAF) will hold a meeting to discuss the “comparative clinical
effectiveness and value of new interferon-free combinations of direct-acting
antiviral (DAA) drugs for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C.” This meeting
updates their previous report, published on April 15, 2014, in which CTAF
determined that the DAAs available at the time—sofosbuvir and simeprevir—were
of “low value”, not cost effective, and questioned the integrity of the expert panel
of clinicians who develop HCV treatment guidance on behalf of the American Association for the Study of Liver
Diseases and the Infectious Diseases Society of America, in collaboration with
the International Antiviral Society–USA . This determination of low value was highly
criticized by medical experts, health economists, advocates, and patients. Nevertheless
the report was widely circulated and cited in media and by policy makers,
resulting in numerous public and private payers instituting unconscionable
restrictions on access to life-saving treatments for countless people with hepatitis
C. As Robin Roth, Co-Chair of the San
Francisco Hepatitis C Task Force states: “To limit treatment based on the
findings of this report was outrageous. Everyone
deserves to be cured. To deny an FDA-approved medication to people who
need it is immoral, and it is not cost-effective in the long run.”
Hepatitis C is the most common blood-borne disease in the United
States, and is the leading cause of chronic liver disease, liver failure,
hepatocellular carcinoma, and liver transplants. Newer hepatitis C treatments
are easier to take, have fewer side effects, and have higher cure rates (90-100%)
compared to previous treatments. There is ample research that shows that hepatitis
C treatment is not only cost-effective, but improves the quality of life and
health outcomes of people who have been cured. Additionally, research has shown
that treating and curing people who use drugs for hepatitis C will lead to
rapid and substantial reductions in HCV transmissions, a practice referred to
as “cure as prevention,” as the majority of incident infections in the United
States are related to the sharing of injection equipment.
The burden of hepatitis C falls disproportionately on people with a
history of injection drug use. Andrew
Reynolds, Hepatitis C Education Manager for Project Inform and member of the
Board of Directors for the San Francisco Drug Users Union states: “People who
inject drugs make up the core of the hepatitis C epidemic, and they are
routinely stigmatized and excluded from medical care. We see this across the
country as various Medicaid programs have established arbitrary policies
requiring people to be abstinent from alcohol and drugs for various lengths of
time before being considered for treatment. This decision is not
evidence-based, flies in the face of recommendations from a number of
professional medical societies, and does not reflect the successes of clinics
like O.A.S.I.S in treating people who may be using substances. By excluding
people who inject drugs from this report, CTAF is reinforcing the stigma and perpetuating
their exclusion from hepatitis C care and treatment.”
As the CTAF panel meets to discuss the clinical effectiveness and
value of new HCV DAAs, they must include considerations for treating people who
use drugs. Any report or resulting recommendations that fail to do so are
fundamentally flawed, and will have limited relevance or impact on eliminating hepatitis
C. Additionally, hepatitis C clinical experts, addiction disease specialists,
and people living with hepatitis C should be consulted and their input included
in the final analysis.
“We are the face of ‘The
Silent Epidemic’ known as hepatitis C,” says Orlando Chavez, Senior Peer
Educator at O.A.S.I.S Clinic. “No matter what you may believe about us, no
matter what the experts say when they rationalize our exclusion, curing us is
the only hope for eliminating this disease and ending both the human costs and
financial havoc that results from denying treatment. Only those that are out
for short-term financial gain at the expense of both society and our lives
would claim otherwise. Such a strategy will ensure hepatitis C will be around
for the next century and beyond. The issue of drug use is a red herring. Don’t
be fooled by it. Insurance companies don’t want to pay for the treatment and
drug companies want to maximize profit by charging high prices. Not only does it make economic sense to treat
drug users, it is the right thing to do and will pay big dividends for all. All
lives have value.”
For more information and interviews, contact:
Orlando Chavez
Senior Peer Educator, O.A.S.I.S Clinic
510-459-7349
Shirley Barger
Co-Chair, San Francisco Hepatitis C Task Force
415-305-5093
Robin Roth
Co-Chair, San Francisco Hepatitis C Task Force
415-863-0328
Holly Bradford
Executive Director, San Francisco Drug Users Union
510-701-3737
Labels: Action Alert, Coalition for equal access, OASIS Clinic