Updates in the field of viral hepatitis
Community unites in response to
potentially damaging review on
hepatitis C drugs
At the beginning of June, the
Cochrane Collaboration published a
review on new direct acting antiviral
(DAA) hepatitis C drugs, claiming
that “the lack of valid evidence and
the possibility of potentially harming
people with chronic hepatitis ought
to be considered before treating
people with hepatitis C with DAAs”.
This outrageous conclusion ignores
the overwhelming evidence that
DAAs do work. Several media outlets
have also used the findings to
question whether countries should
fund the treatments. Concerned
by the misleading findings and
subsequent irresponsible media
coverage, the hepatitis community
has united to denounce the
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review. We published a rebuttal
on our website and an open letter
was submitted to The Lancet
Gastroenterology & Hepatology and
featured alongside an editorial from
the journal. The Hepatitis C Trust
and leading experts in the UK co-
authored a letter that was published
in the Guardian and liver societies
including AASLD and EASL also
issued responses. As well as this,
we received a number of responses
from patients who emphasised how
much their lives had changed since
treatment with DAAs.
See the community’s response to
the Cochrane Review here.
United Nations Office on Drugs and
Crime World Drug Report 2017
In June the United Nations Office
on Drugs and Crime published
the World Drug Report 2017
and revealed that hepatitis C is
causing the greatest harm among
the estimated 12 million people
who inject drugs worldwide. Of
this number, more than half (6.1
million) are living with hepatitis
C while around 1.3 million are
suffering from both hepatitis C
and HIV. Overall, three times more
people who use drugs die from
hepatitis C (222,000) than from
HIV (60,000). The report stresses
that despite advances in hepatitis
C medicines, access still remains
poor among this key population.
Read the full report here.
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