Hepatitis C Drugs In India

Estimated Cost Of Medical Treatment In India

The cost of treatment is one tenth of the cost of treatment available in the USA. It depends on the duration of medication.

The above costs are indicative and the actual treatment plan and cost estimate can only be made on the basis of detailed medical examination and reports.

The package does not include the following:

• Cost for treatment for additional co morbidities
• Outside Hospital expenses
• Professional charges of other consultants
• Any admission required

Reduces Hours Of Oxygen Needed By Patients

In a press statement on Friday, Zydus Cadila said, “A single dose of the anti-viral Virafin administered subcutaneously early on shows significant clinical and virological improvement in moderate Covid-19 adult patients.”

The pharma giant goes on to add that 91.15 per cent of the patients treated with PegIFN tested negative for Covid-19 using RT-PCR by the seventh day.

It is important to note that the treatment involving Virafin significantly reduces the hours of supplemental oxygen needed by Covid-19 patients. This was found during a multicentric trial conducted in 20-25 centers across India.

Expected Time Schedule For Hcv Treatment At Safemedtrip Affiliated Hospitals In India

• Send the patient details including HCV RNA and LFT report at least a week in advance.
• On the day of arrival a. Consultation with doctor and identification of problems.b. Blood tests
• b. Starting Treatment
• On Day 6 b. Blood tests for monitoring treatment
• On Day 7 a. Consultation with the doctor, b. Work out plan for follow up, Back Home.

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Cadila Seeks Nod To Repurpose Hepatitis C Drug For Covid

A healthcare worker collects a coronavirus disease test swab sample from a man as others watch, at a temporary shelter for the homeless in New Delhi, India, March 31, 2021. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi

BENGALURU, April 5 – India’s Cadila Healthcare Ltd has sought approval from local regulators to use a Hepatitis C drug as a treatment for COVID-19 following promising interim results from a late-stage trial, the drugmaker said on Monday.

A single dose of the Hepatitis C drug when taken early could help COVID-19 patients recover faster and avoid complications seen in the advanced stages of the disease, Cadila said in a statement to stock exchanges.

About 91% of patients treated with the drug tested negative for COVID-19 in standard RT-PCR tests by day seven, compared to nearly 79% who were given the standard of care, the company said citing Phase-III clinical trial data.

The drug, known as Pegylated Interferon alpha-2b and branded as ‘PegiHep’ by Cadila, was originally approved for liver disease Hepatitis C and launched in India 10 years ago. It is being repurposed to treat COVID-19.

The news comes as daily coronavirus infections are surging to new highs in India, which has the world’s third-highest caseload after the United States and Brazil. India has so far reported close to 12.5 million infections and more than 164,000 deaths.

Gilead Licenses Generic Hepatitis C Drug In India

Company aims to head off competition and grab a slice of royalties

Gilead has granted licenses to seven generic drugmakers to produce its blockbuster hepatitis C drug Sovaldi in India and 90 other developing nations. The company will give each licensee a full technology transfer, in exchange for 7% royalties on all sales.

The move counters several problems Gilead could otherwise face in India. Firstly, there is doubt over whether India would grant a patent for sofosbuvir, since the drug is already approved in the US and EU, and India has a history of refusing patents for molecules already in the public domain. Lack of patent protection would leave Sovaldi open to generic competition. By granting licenses, Gilead at least gets a share of sales.

At the same time, it goes some way towards appeasing activist groups, which have criticised the company for the high prices it has set for Sovaldi. Generic manufacturers will be allowed to set their own prices, which could bring the treatment within the budgets of many more patients.

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Q: What Is The Difference Between Hepatitis A Hepatitis B And Hepatitis C

A: Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B, and Hepatitis C are due to three distinct viruses. Even though their symptoms are similar and every one of them strikes the liver, their modes of transmission are somewhat distinct. Each of the three starts as severe illnesses but Hepatitis A doesnt become chronic and enhances without medication. On the flip side, Hepatitis B and C can become persistent if toxin proceeds to stay in the bloodstream for over six months. A chronic disease may result in serious complications such as cirrhosis or cancer. Vaccines are available for Hepatitis A and B, but not for Hepatitis C.

What Are The Symptoms Of Hepatitis C

The symptoms can be different from one person to another and it may take at least 6-7 weeks to show up as well. Below are the symptoms that are linked to Hepatitis C and the Hepatitis C medicine’s can cure these things easily.

• High fever
• Pain in the abdominal region or severe discomfort
• Pain in the joints and muscles
• Jaundice and loss of appetite

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Hepatitis C Medicine: How It Is Sold In India

Today I sent an email to the distributor whose card the doctor gave me. The email bounced back.

This was worrying. I checked that I had spelled the email address correctly and I had. It seemed strange to me that a pharmaceutical distributors email address on his card would be wrong. Its worrying but I will phone him on the phone number on the card tomorrow and see what happens. Perhaps there is a simple explanation? Everything is done differently in India and people seem to use their mobile phones rather than email.

But, as B asked, why was I buying the Sofosbuvir off a distributor and not from the pharmacy?

Distributors

Because I have put this little diary out on the Internet I have been getting a few emails, mainly from people who found out about my journey from Hep C forums. Some of these folk have asked me questions and some have offered me detailed advice about prices of the various generic brands of Sofosbuvir and other stuff.

Another email received regarding prices:

.. Chennai is bit more expensive than other Indian cities.

You will see- the printed price on the bottle will be 19900 INR a bottle. the lowest you can go is 12000 INR a bottle. If you cannot get that low the highest you would pay is 16000 INR a bottle a bottle. This is because the MRP printed is inclusive of all profits for stockiest, distributor and retailer. You will be buying from the company guys so thats why you will pay cheaper. Have a good evening.

Goodnight!

How Effective Is Treatment

Direct acting antivirals cure 9 out of 10 patients with hepatitis C.

Successful treatment does not give you any protection against another hepatitis C infection. You can still catch it again.

There’s no vaccine for hepatitis C.

If treatment does not work, it may be repeated, extended, or a different combination of medicines may be tried.

Your doctor or nurse will be able to advise you.

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Indias Efforts To Help End Hepatitis C Starts With Prison Population

A global nonprofit is leading an effort to help eliminate the hepatitis C virus among people who are incarcerated in India. Over the last two years, the Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics has been targeting the highly vulnerable group of prison inmates in the northern states of Punjab and Haryana where HCV is particularly prevalent.

By eliminating the virus in prisons, you can prevent transmission within both the prisons and the general population and ultimately slow the spread of the virus, explains Sanjay Sarin, Vice President of Access at FIND.

An estimated 1% of the population, or as many as 14 million people, are believed to be living with HCV in India. Much like HIV, it is spread through contact with infected blood or body fluids. A large percentage of inmates in Punjab, for instance, are people who use drugs and have contracted the virus by sharing needles.

FIND, which focuses on diagnostics for neglected diseases, aims to stop the spread of the virus by testing and treating inmates in these two states, as well as those in the adjacent territory of Chandigarh. This is the first time a program of this kind has been implemented anywhere in India. Although the Indian government has long-established programs to combat HIV and TB, it only recently began to focus on HCV, launching a national initiative in 2018.

Thus far, FIND has screened about 30,000 inmates with about 2,700 testing positive for HCV in the designated prisons.

Advantages Of Generic Daas

The availability of generic DAAs has reduced the cost of therapy and has shown excellent results with 12-week posttreatment virological suppression rates . Treatment with generic DAAs increases life expectancy by about 8 years, and the treatment becomes cost-effective within 2 years.

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Zydus Cadila Healthcare Ltd

About Company: Zydus Cadila is a united health care provider that offers complete healthcare solutions. Zydus products hold a prominent reputation in the domestic pharma industry sweepstakes. Widely, the group has a strong presence in the regulated plenty markets such as US, Asia, Europe. Services offered in other countries have led to a strong presence in all those countries with emerging markets worldwide.Generic Hep C medicines by Zydus Heptiza

Q: Can Hepatitis C Be Cured

A: Yes, hepatitis C is also curable. The therapy therapies and medications have proven a success rate of 95 percent in removing HCV. Medicines for distinct genotypes are readily available. To get genotypes 1, 2, and 3, the direct-acting antifungal medications can be found and for genotypes 4, 5, and 6, elderly kinds of medications are there which have a fantastic reply but take more time to take care of the disease.

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Hepatitis C Drugs In India Are Cost Effective Shows Study

Boston: Hepatitis C virus drugs available in India not only increase life expectancy but also reduce lifetime health care costs by over USD 1,300 per person.

Researchers found that the generic directly-acting antiviral treatments available in India are cost effective.

More than 9 million people are infected with Hepatitis C virus in India, and more than 70 million worldwide, said Jagpreet Chhatwal from Massachusetts General Hospital in the US.

These persons are at risk of developing serious conditions such as cirrhosis and liver cancer, which can be fatal. However, only a fraction of them have been treated with these drugs so far, Chhatwal said.

Researchers, including those from Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences in Uttar Pradesh, used a mathematical model to compare the outcomes of DAA treatment with those of no DAA treatment based on profiles of 30 hypothetical patients with characteristics typical of Indian patients with HCV infection.

Factors incorporated into the model included the natural history of HCV disease, the costs of DAA administration, the costs of treating the adverse outcomes of HCV disease, and quality of life of individuals infected with HCV.

Researchers found that payback for the upfront costs of DAA drugs would be achieved in an average of less than 10 years.

The study was published in the journal PLoS ONE.

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Q: Who Is At Risk Of Contracting Hcv

A: Following type of people are at risk of contracting Hepatitis C-

• People who use injectable drugs
• People with HIV
• People receiving kidney dialysis for long
• Children of an infected mother
• People born between 1945 and 1965
• People who have got piercings or tattoos
• Healthcare workers who handle blood
• Patients with diseases that require blood from donors

Q: What Complications Are Associated With Hepatitis C

A: Many people with chronic hepatitis C dont develop complications. But patients with chronic hepatitis B are at risk of getting liver cirrhosis or liver cancer. Some folks might require a liver transplant. Individuals with alcoholic and obesity are at greater risk of suffering from complications of hepatitis C.

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Compensated And Decompensated Cirrhosis

In patients with cirrhosis or advanced fibrosis, PEG-IFN showed increased incidence of side effects and much lower SVR rates as compared to patients without advanced fibrosis or cirrhosis. The ION-1 and ION 2 trials were phase III studies which assessed the efficacy of SOF and ledipasvir for 12 or 24 wk with and without RBV in HCV genotype 1 patients. Among the total study population, 16 per cent of patients in the ION-1 study and 20 per cent in the ION-2 study had cirrhosis. The ION-1 study results demonstrated that SVR12 rates among treatment-naïve patients with liver cirrhosis in any of the different treatment arms were comparable to patients without cirrhosis , and there was no significant difference. Even in ION-2 study, cirrhotic patients when treated for 12 wk with ledipasvir plus SOF with and without RBV achieved an SVR12 of 82 and 86 per cent, respectively. If the duration of treatment was extended for 24 wk, the SVR12 rates achieved were 99 per cent in both the RBV-containing and RBV-free groups.

These are preliminary findings and these results need validation including more patients with different genotypes, as patients with cirrhosis are less able to clear or cure infected cells. There is scarcity of data on the efficacy of IFN-free regimens in patients with decompensated cirrhosis, and the key question of improvement at this advanced stage of the disease even after achieving SVR has not been fully addressed.

But The Biggest Burning Question: How Do I Get Rid Of Hep C

In 2014, the only treatment option available was a combination of interferon plus ribavirin. But research showed that this treatment had a very low cure rate plus horrendous side effects. Upon more research, I discovered that a new drug called Sovaldi had just been released. It reported excellent cure rates with very few side effects.

Now, I wasnt a poor man. But I wasnt rich either, and $84,000 was enough to put anyone into never-ending debt.

Thats when I heard there was a generic version of Sovaldi about to be released in India. This generic drug would be less than $1,000 for a 12-week treatment. So I used up the last bit of credit on my credit card to book a ticket for the beginning of May 2015.

I rounded up more cash by borrowing a few more hundred dollars from friends and family. I had a fairly tight schedule, no plans, and just hope.

Seven days in India to find a supplier of generic Sovaldi.

Buy the meds.

I flew into Chennai and stayed at a cheap hotel. I immediately began looking for a doctor or pharmacist from whom I could get the medicine.

Things work very differently in India.

These drugs are not sold in pharmacies. In fact, the average doctor there has no idea about them.

The clock was ticking and I was worried I hadnt given myself enough time.

As soon as I could, I phoned Sushil, introduced myself, and explained my situation.

There were only three days left before I had to get back on the plane.

And no drugs.

I didnt want to do it.

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Estimating The Disease Burden

According to global estimates, the prevalence rate of HCV viremia in India in 2015 was 0.5%, affecting about 4.7 to 10.9 million people. In a meta-analysis of 327 studies, the prevalence rate of HCV in India, as estimated by the seropositive rates of anti-HCV antibody, was 0.85% in community studies, 0.44% in asymptomatic blood donors, and 0.88% in pregnant women. The community-based prevalence results were available from only three states in the country and were associated with marked heterogeneity therefore, they may not truly reflect the nationwide prevalence. Similarly, the prevalence rates of anti-HCV positivity among blood donors varied between 0.11% and 1.24% across different states . Notwithstanding the limitations, in a country with more than 1.3 billion individuals, this suggests a huge burden of disease.

Adverse Effects Interactions And Precautions With The Use Of Sofosbuvir

The most common adverse effects of SOF in combination with RBV were fatigue and headache . When SOF is used in combination with PEG-IFN and RBV, the most common adverse events observed are fatigue, headache, nausea, insomnia and anaemia. Cardiac patients who are taking amiodarone can develop severe bradycardia when SOF is taken in combination with another DAA. This effect increases in patients who are also receiving beta-blockers and have advanced liver disease. Thus, co-administration of amiodarone with SOF is not recommended. If there are no alternative and viable treatment options, a strict cardiac monitoring is recommended.

Since many regimens contain RBV and PEG-IFN, care must be taken before their administration. RBV can lead to foetal death or birth defects, and animal studies have shown that IFNs have abortifacient effects. Thus, it is advisable to avoid pregnancy in female patients who are on these drugs. Pregnancy should be ruled out prior to initiating therapy, and couples should be counselled for using contraception and to have monthly pregnancy tests.

RBV cannot be recommended for patients with severe renal impairment or end-stage renal disease.

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