Good News: HCV Treatment Is Becoming More Accessible

Scale up of HCV treatment with highly effective drugs is well on the way in the countries of Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECA).

 

Alliance for Public Health in collaboration with the International Treatment Preparedness Coalition (ITPCru) and more than 17 partner organizations updates the report “Hepatitis C in Eastern Europe and Central Asia: Civil Society Response to the Epidemic”.

There have been positive changes during the recent two months since the date of last publication which we would like to present:

–          Interferon-free regimens of hepatitis C treatment are accessible in 9 of 11 EECA countries.

–          In the countries of the region there is a burst in the registration of the generic versions of direct-acting antivirals. The leader in registration of generics is Kyrgyzstan (5 generic versions of sofosbuvir and 3 generic versions of sofosbuvir/ledipasvir combinations).

–         Two sofosbuvir generics and a daclatasvir generic were registered in Moldova. Neighboring Belarus also registered a generic version of sofosbuvir.

–          At the end of September 2016, European Association for the Study of Liver (EASL) undated its guidelines on HCV treatment, stipulating 8 peg-interferon-free HCV treatment regimens for six virus genotypes.

To learn more interesting facts, recommendations to countries on how to scale up the access to treatment, and the best advocacy practices, read our report.