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Not just for Pamela Anderson: New hepatitis C treatment could cure many in 12 weeks, study finds

(Pamela Anderson/Instagram)
(Pamela Anderson/Instagram)

Baywatch babe Pamela Anderson recently announced to the world that she was cured of hepatitis C the exact way you would expect she would – via a nude photo whilst throwing her head back and smiling in a photo posted on Instagram.

In the post, the beauty from B.C. wrote in part: “I am CURED!!! … I pray anyone living with Hep C can qualify or afford treatment. It will be more available soon.”

Anderson, now 48, was first diagnosed with the liver disease back in 2002. It can take decades for noticeable issues, such as cirrhosis, to develop. The Hollywood star was fortunately able to get treated before that happened and now says she has no liver damage or side effects from having hepatitis C for 16 years.

Back here in Canada far away from sunny Hollywood, Canadian doctors have been part of studies showing a once-daily combination of sofosbuvir-velpatasvir for a 12-week period is effective in curing the majority of patients, according to a new study just published in The New England Journal of Medicine.

Dr. Jordan Feld, a hepatologist at Toronto Western Hospital’s Francis Family Liver Clinic, and lead author of the study, said he anticipates the drugs will be available for Canadians by mid-2016, following approval by Health Canada.

That’s very good news for Canadians with hepatitis C.

Previously, therapies for those with hepatitis C were “difficult” with “really serious side effects,” such as fatigue, weight loss, headaches, poor sleep and mental health issues, said Dr. Curtis Cooper, the director of Ottawa Hospital and Regional Hepatitis Program, in a phone interview with Yahoo Canada.

On top of the side effects, the treatments required injections for a period of 24 to 48 weeks.

“It was a long and difficult path, with only a 40 to 50 per cent success rate,” said Dr. Cooper.

Comes with a big price tag

Many patients ultimately opted out of that difficult path, but over the past few years the treatment options have vastly improved, added Dr. Cooper. Now people like Anderson have access to drugs with much shorter treatment cycles and much higher cure rates. But, as the Canadian-born actress alluded to in her Instagram post, many of those drugs have had gigantic price tags attached to them. Earlier this year, after significant public pressure, the Ontario government agreed to pay for the drugs Holkira Pak and Harvoni. Both drugs have very high cure rates for genotype 1 hepatitis C patients, but cost in the range of $50,000 for 12 weeks of treatment.

The new combo treatment requires patients to take a pill once per day for 12 weeks, and works for all genotypes (1, 2, 3,4, 5 and 6) said Dr. Cooper, who was a co-author on a study also published this year in The New England Journal of Medicine about the efficacy of sofosbuvir-ledipasvir (Harvoni) for hepatitis C patients co-infected with HIV. That study found the combination eliminated hepatitis C in 96 per cent of co-infected patients.

Both Dr. Cooper and Dr. Feld say the price of sofosbuvir-velpatasvir has not been set yet, but it’s expected the costs will be high.

“Other hepatitis C treatments developed in recent years are very expensive and unfortunately I am concerned that these medications will also be very costly,” said Dr. Feld in an email interview.

“The high price of these drugs has been a major impediment to treating everyone who is infected, both in Canada and around the world. We continue to lobby for lower prices and this has been increasingly effective in recent years. However, until the prices are reduced dramatically, cost will definitely limit our ability to eliminate hepatitis C as a public health problem.”

Both doctors hope provincial governments will step up and pay for these drugs after they become available in Canada.

Then, many of the 242,500 Canadians estimated to have hepatitis C, will be able to share their own celebratory photos (nude or clothed) on Instagram letting their followers know they, like Anderson, are cured.