The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs extended hepatitis C treatments to all veterans in its health system, regardless of disease stage or whether the illness was contracted during military service, according to JAMA.
Here are six things to know about the initiative:
- Congress provided $1.5 billion in funding to aid the VA's effort to treat veterans with hepatitis C.
- Out of all the veterans who seek care through the health system, almost 89,000 have hepatitis C but have not received treatment, and another 40,000 could be infected but not diagnosed, according to data from the agency.
- Gilead Sciences hepatitis C treatment Sovaldi carries a list price of $84,000 for a single course of treatment. Analysts predict it will cost the VA $7 billion to treat the veterans, even with a 46 percent discount of the drug's list price — the average reduction rate reported publicly.
- The VA is treating 1,100 patients a week with the hepatitis C antiviral therapy — double the amount of patients as last year. The agency hopes to hit 2,000 patients a week by the end of the year, David Ross, MD, director of the VA’s HIV, hepatitis, and public health pathogens programs, said.
- The VA is screening all veterans born between 1945 and 1965, who represent more than 75 percent of hepatitis C infections.
- Five medical centers in San Francisco, Ann Arbor, Mich., Richmond, Va., Portland, Ore., and West Haven, Conn., are leading the initiative, providing training and expert advice on hepatitis C throughout the VA.
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