Posted on January 31, 2014
Source: USA Today
John Billeris has tried and failed four grueling rounds of treatment for his chronic hepatitis C infection over the past 15 years. He is not convinced that his fifth try — with what he jokingly calls "magic medicine" — will be the charm. But he says the three-drug regimen he started on Christmas is definitely easier to take.
"I saw the doctor a couple of weeks ago… and I told him this (stuff) is not working because I don't feel anything," says the 59-year-old semi-retired real estate agent from Oyster Bay, N.Y. Since then, Billeris says, he's developed a familiar "anemic feeling," but still nothing like the persistent flu-like symptoms he has endured in the past.
That's because Billeris' new treatment does not include one drug that, until now, has been essential for patients like him: interferon, a medication known for causing fevers, headaches, fatigue, mood swings and other unpleasant and sometimes dangerous side effects. It does include two drugs approved by the Food and Drug Administration in late 2013, sofosbuvir from Gilead Sciences, Inc., and simeprevir from Janssen Therapeutics.
Those medications, and others the FDA is expected to consider soon, are part of what experts are calling a revolution in treatment for 3 million people in the USA chronically infected with hepatitis C, the nation's leading cause of liver cancer and liver transplants.
Changes in treatment are coming so fast that several medical groups on Wednesday took an unusual step: posting preliminary online treatment guidelines that will evolve as more medications become available.
