HIV and ID Observations

February 10th, 2012

Boceprevir – PI Interaction: A “Dear Doctor” Letter We Didn’t Want To Get

By now I’m sure that most of you ID folks out there have received the following letter from Merck, the makers of boceprevir: URGENT — IMPORTANT DRUG WARNING: VICTRELIS (BOCEPREVIR) The purpose of this communication is to inform you of recent pharmacokinetic study results evaluating drug interactions between VICTRELIS, an oral chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) NS3/4A […]

---

November 9th, 2011

HCV Treatment Studies at AASLD: Wow … and I Mean WOW!

I didn’t attend “The Liver Meeting” (the nickname for the annual meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, AASLD), but the studies presented there this week on HCV treatment were absolutely mind-boggling. “Breathtaking!” said one of my HCV-oriented colleagues. “Hopeful is an understatement,” said another. An example: Dual Oral Combination Therapy with the NS5A […]

---

August 24th, 2011

Hepatitis C and … Baseball?

From the prolific folks at NATAP came this surprising announcement: The Cardinals are stepping up to the plate against Hepatitis C. Starting Monday, August 22, fans will be able to get free Hepatitis C screenings at Busch Stadium. It’s part of a nationwide effort by Major League Baseball to bring attention to the causes and treatment of Hepatitis C. […]

---

June 15th, 2011

Hockey Helicobacters

Today’s ID/HIV items come to you courtesy of a winter game being played during a summer month: So it appears that community-based care of HCV augmented by telemedicine is just as good as traditional clinic visits to specialists. My first thought on reading this important paper is that there are undoubtedly lots of ways to incorporate […]

---

April 28th, 2011

Hepatitis C Week is Upon Us

After many — and I mean many — years of telling patients that new hepatitis C drugs were “coming soon,” that time has finally come. An FDA Advisory Panel yesterday favorably reviewed the HCV protease inhibitor boceprevir; today telaprevir got the same unanimous report. The FDA will  certainly follow with approval for both drugs, and hence […]

---