Lower patient productivity and higher healthcare benefit costs add to burden of HCV infection

Researchers from Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland (the NORDynamIC project group) have observed that depressive symptoms in patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection are commonly overlooked in routine clinical interviews, and that treatment-induced depression compromises the outcome of HCV therapy. A second U.S.

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"In sum, far from limiting access," the changes under the law "actually increased the likelihood that lung cancer patients received chemotherapy," said Dr. Mireille Jacobson of the RAND Corporation, who was first author on the study. (Disclosure: I serve as a reviewer of scientific studies for RAND.)

The authors chose to focus on lung cancer because of the various treatment options, some of which are considerably more expensive than others. They found that doctors frequently switched drugs to choose the more expensive options. There was, for instance, an increased use of docetaxel (Taxotere), a drug for which oncologist get reimbursed about $2,500 per patient per month.

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Hepatitis C is Big Business for Pharmaceutical Companies.

GlobalData’s analysis suggests that the global hepatitis C market was worth $4.4 billion in 2009. It is forecast to grow at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 9.8% for the next seven years to reach $8.5 billion by 2016. The high projected growth rate is primarily attributable to a strong pipeline. The increase in the prevalence of the disease and the availability of new first-in-class therapies with better safety and efficacy profiles are expected to drive the growth of the hepatitis C market.

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Solvent abuse is a particularly serious issue affecting Aboriginal
people. Here we examine the association between solvent use and
socio-demographic variables, drug-related risk factors, and pathogen
prevalence in Aboriginal injection drug users (IDU) in Manitoba, Canada.

Methods: Data originated from a cross-sectional survey of IDU from December 2003 to September 2004.

Associations between solvent use and variables of interest were assessed by multiple logistic regression.

Results:
A total of 266 Aboriginal IDU were included in the analysis of which 44

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"How does it feel to be patented? There was a sense of betrayal. I mean, they owned a part of me that I could never recover. I certainly have no objection to scientific research ... but it was like a rape. In a sense, you've been violated, for dollars.

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Health authorities have tested more than half the women in New
Zealand potentially exposed to the hepatitis C virus in a Melbourne
abortion clinic, but are being hampered by confidentiality rules which
mean they cannot leave phone messages.

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Being back on US soil doesn't mean these Missouri veterans are safe.

John Cochran VA Medical Center in St. Louis recently notified over 1,800 veterans that they may have been exposed to hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HIV after visiting the medical center for dental work, said Rep. Russ Carnahan.

The association chief of staff at the hospital, Dr. Gina Michael, says some dental technicians broke protocol by hand washing dental tools before putting them into cleaning machines. The hand washing began back in February 2009 and may have caused the tools to become contaminated.

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