New Hepatitis C treatments reviewed by leading expert in liver diseases. How new oral Hepatitis C therapies changed prognosis for viral hepatitis patients? How does current cost of cure from Hepatitis C compare with cost of life-long therapy for Hepatitis B or HIV treatment? New Hepatitis C treatment. Update on Hepatitis B therapy. Dr. Anton Titov, MD. Video interview with leading expert in hepatitis and liver diseases Harvard Medical School. Dr. Simon Robson, MD. What is next for Hepatitis C therapy. Treatment of complications from hepatitis C outside the liver. Kidney disease caused by hepatitis. New Hepatitis C treatment in 2020 are becoming more available. Vasculitis caused by hepatitis B or hepatitis C. New hepatitis C medications to treat infections after transplantations. Medical second opinion helps to make sure diagnosis of Hepatitis C or Hepatitis B or Hepatitis E is correct and complete. Medical second opinion also helps to choose the best treatment for viral hepatitis. Dr. Simon Robson, MD. New Hepatitis C medications: ombitasvir, paritaprevir, ritonavir combination is called Viekira Pak; boceprevir / Victrelis, Harvoni. Duration of hepatitis C treatment is 8 to 12 weeks. Hepatitis B patients have to be treated indefinitely. Dr. Anton Titov, MD. New Hepatitis C treatment protocols in 2020 are better for a wider number of patients with Hepatitis C. New Hepatitis C treatment. Hepatitis B therapy. Dr. Anton Titov, MD. Recently effective new oral hepatitis C treatments became available. But course of treatment can cost $100,000. New oral hepatitis C medications: sofosbuvir, ledipasvir, telaprevir / Incivek, sofosbuvir / Sovaldi. Pharmaceutical companies that developed new oral hepatitis C medications might license these medications at a cheaper price to some countries, like India. Hepatitis C medications: ombitasvir, paritaprevir, ritonavir combination is called Viekira Pak; boceprevir / Victrelis, Harvoni. On the other hand new oral medications to treat Hepatitis C are very effective. They can cure patient with Hepatitis C in 95% of cases and only require weeks of treatment. Some Hepatitis C medications: simeprevir / Olysio. This is in contrast to need for life-long treatment of HIV. New oral hepatitis C medications can achieve the cure of patient. Dr. Anton Titov, MD. Patient does not need to take new hepatitis C medications for the rest of their life. Dr. Simon Robson, MD. Harvard Medical School. Those are excellent points. Hepatitis B treatment is similar to HIV therapy. Hepatitis B virus is suppressed while patient takes medications. Hepatitis B virus is almost like a defective retrovirus. HIV is a retrovirus. Hepatitis B virus is similar to HIV in a manner of its replication. There are reservoirs of Hepatitis B in the body, just like with HIV. Hepatitis B virus has to be continuously suppressed. Sometimes you stop HIV therapy, HIV viral load increases. Sometimes you stop Hepatitis B treatment, a large proportion of the patients can relapse. Hepatitis B disease will reactivate in these patients again. Dr. Simon Robson, MD. Hepatitis C is completely different. Sometimes you treat Hepatitis C with effective new medications for 8 to 12 weeks, there is no Hepatitis C virus in the body. Hepatitis C is an RNA virus. Once Hepatitis C virus is eradicated from the body, the virus stays away. Only new infection can lead to appearance of Hepatitis C virus again. The duration of new effective treatment of Hepatitis C is 8 to 12 weeks and the cost is $80,000 to $100,000. The cost of HIV treatment is $10,000 to $15,000 per each year. cost of Hepatitis C treatment is like 10 years of HIV treatment. Dr. Anton Titov, MD. But new Hepatitis C treatment eradicates the virus. vThen patient no longer needs any treatment. But budgets are limited and health insurance companies. They often do not agree to pay for new Hepatitis C treatment. Only Hepatitis C patients with advanced liver disease are currently being treated with new oral Hepatitis C medications. These are patients with advanced liver disease who may have complications, patients after transplantations. Those hepatitis C patients are being treated first. Patients who have complications from hepatitis C outside the liver, such as kidney disease or vasculitis also receive treatment first. But eventually we will eradicate Hepatitis C virus. We will treat a much broader spectrum of patients. Dr. Anton Titov, MD. But right now we are treating Hepatitis C patients with more advanced disease. We are treating patients with Hepatitis C who have the highest risk of worsening liver function. Dr. Simon Robson, MD. But those are excellent points that you make. Generic versions of new oral Hepatitis C medications will probably not be sold in the open market for one year or two years. I must say that I am not participating in any licensing efforts or activities. Currently Gilead Pharmaceuticals is recouping their investment. This is pharmaceutical company that sells sofosbuvir. It is the first new Hepatitis C medication that came to market. Gilead obtained this medication by buying Pharmasset, the company that developed sofosbuvir (Sovaldi). New Hepatitis C treatment 2020. Video interview with leading expert in hepatitis and liver diseases. Update on viral hepatitis therapy (Harvoni, Victrelis).