It appears to me from the blogs I have read on this and other boards and the articles on the new oral medications that the only modality of treatment I would agree to was the non interferon trials. My biggest fear of treatment was the side effects being worse than the disease itself and the low cure rates after nearly a year of treatment on the triple therapies. When I was diagnosed my dr warehoused me to wait a few years until better treatments came along. I didn't qualify for the victrelis clinical trial since they were looking for cc and I am ct and in hindsight I am greatful that I avoided interferon treatment. I pray that I will be able to report that this treatment has slayed the dragon and as treatment ends three days shy of my birthday it would be the best birthday gift ever
Biggyb said
Aug 7, 2013
Welcome Supportive Wife, Alot of that info you can find in using the search at top of page. Lots of great info on this site. ~Bob
supportive wife said
Aug 7, 2013
what are the side effects of the drugs?
supportive wife said
Aug 7, 2013
so is this new drugs available in Mississippi?
supportive wife said
Aug 7, 2013
so the triple tx contain these two pegasys and riba? This is what my husband tried for 12 weeks and it didnt work. Adding the new drug what is the percentage that the virus will be cleared? He has 1a the hardest to treat.
supportive wife said
Aug 7, 2013
thanks for the info
robdbird said
Aug 7, 2013
I wrote abvie rep for the trial and she told me the name of a physician in my area who was allocated spaces on the trial , I then had my family physician give me a referral to this doctor. originally there was one space left and someone ahead of me for that space. I somehow ended up with the spot however after the nurse told me there were 7 more spots allocated to this physician. so start with a letter to the abbvie trial dr in your area for a referral to a dr doing the trial and contact that dr and take it from there
Cinnamon Girl said
Aug 6, 2013
ivan wrote:
I've requested info for clinical trial currently accepting applicants but appears the email response is automatic with no information (specifically want to know what options I have if tx unsuccessful or SVR relapse). ?does your doctor need to contact the trial provider? Friday I go to see my doc and will ask him to get ball rolling if that is what's needed. NCT01132313
Yes, I should talk to your doctor about it on Friday and see if he thinks it would be suitable. Let us know what happens, and best of luck!
marktrux said
Aug 6, 2013
I did single and double treatment a total of 4 times, 48 weeks per round, with no positive results. I finished 48 weeks of triple Tx with incivek in May and I'm still virus free. The third RX brings it up to around a 70% chance of SVR. I believe both Incivek and Victrelis have almost identical svr rates.
-- Edited by marktrux on Wednesday 7th of August 2013 03:11:35 AM
ivan said
Aug 6, 2013
I've requested info for clinical trial currently accepting applicants but appears the email response is automatic with no information (specifically want to know what options I have if tx unsuccessful or SVR relapse). ?does your doctor need to contact the trial provider? Friday I go to see my doc and will ask him to get ball rolling if that is what's needed. NCT01132313
Cinnamon Girl said
Aug 6, 2013
Hi there, Supportive Wife, welcome to the forum. There are various ways of getting the treatment meds paid for, and here`s some info about patient assistance programmes with some useful phone numbers you can call...
If you google "Patient Advocate Foundation" they can help immensely. They picked up the tab for my pegasys and riba. The bad part about it is you have to pay up front and they will reimburse you. If your hubby is on incivek, they have an aid program set up too, but I dont know how they pay if you dont have any insurance. Just dont give up, there are ways to get treatment, it just takes a little work.
Tig said
Aug 6, 2013
The treatment is grossly expensive! Drugs alone can be well over $12,000.00 per month! Without insurance I would search for trial studies near you. If accepted in a trial, all costs of treatment (drugs and testing) are covered by the drug manufacturer.
supportive wife said
Aug 6, 2013
we have no insurance and was able to get help with the first round of meds is this treatment expensive or does anyone know how we can get help with paying for the drugs?
supportive wife said
Aug 5, 2013
so is there any word on when these will be available?
justme said
Aug 5, 2013
I am new to this site. I am in week 19 of triple therapy. Even though my chances have dropped to 60-65 %, giving in to this virus is not an option thanks to a very supportive husband. Dont give up, there are new meds coming out that are a 90% success rate, maybe they will work. Talk to your doctor. I hope you find one that will work for him. Take care
supportive wife said
Aug 5, 2013
My husband has hep c and has had it for some what years. We found out 06 he took the horrible meds and didn't finish or didn't respond however, he has not been to the doctor since then. I was just wondering what need meds are available to him today if I could get him to go to the doctor. He was gen 1a the hardest to treat we did have a bio done and it showed stage 1 grade 1. He says if there is no cure he doesnt want to go on any meds but I try to tell him that there are new meds but I just dont know what is avaiable to him. please help
Tig said
Aug 5, 2013
Hello! There are several new drug treatments on the horizon and currently the approved (usual) drugs given for Genotype 1 is going to be what we call "triple therapy". They utilize a multi month combination of pegylated interferon and Ribavirin. The third med is either Incivek which is given 2-3x daily for 12 weeks or Victrelis, which is given 3x daily for 24(+) weeks after a 4 week lead in, depending on labs. The current treatments are full of side effects, many unpleasant. But it can be wise to start current therapy depending on your husband's current health to slow and/or stop the HCV progression. If his liver health is good and his doctors feel there is no risk in waiting for the very promising new drugs on the horizon, I would give good consideration to waiting. Whatever you choose, I wish you good luck and good health!
As far as when these new drugs may come along, I believe you may see something in the next year provided they obtain the planned approvals. Many are still in early to mid phase trials and their approval could be years away. I'll find one of the trial info links and will post it here. You can find a lot of good info using the Search function here.
Welcome Supportive Wife, Alot of that info you can find in using the search at top of page. Lots of great info on this site. ~Bob
what are the side effects of the drugs?
so is this new drugs available in Mississippi?
so the triple tx contain these two pegasys and riba? This is what my husband tried for 12 weeks and it didnt work. Adding the new drug what is the percentage that the virus will be cleared? He has 1a the hardest to treat.
thanks for the info
I wrote abvie rep for the trial and she told me the name of a physician in my area who was allocated spaces on the trial , I then had my family physician give me a referral to this doctor. originally there was one space left and someone ahead of me for that space. I somehow ended up with the spot however after the nurse told me there were 7 more spots allocated to this physician. so start with a letter to the abbvie trial dr in your area for a referral to a dr doing the trial and contact that dr and take it from there
I did single and double treatment a total of 4 times, 48 weeks per round, with no positive results. I finished 48 weeks of triple Tx with incivek in May and I'm still virus free. The third RX brings it up to around a 70% chance of SVR. I believe both Incivek and Victrelis have almost identical svr rates.
-- Edited by marktrux on Wednesday 7th of August 2013 03:11:35 AM
I've requested info for clinical trial currently accepting applicants but appears the email response is automatic with no information (specifically want to know what options I have if tx unsuccessful or SVR relapse). ?does your doctor need to contact the trial provider? Friday I go to see my doc and will ask him to get ball rolling if that is what's needed. NCT01132313
Hi there, Supportive Wife, welcome to the forum. There are various ways of getting the treatment meds paid for, and here`s some info about patient assistance programmes with some useful phone numbers you can call...
http://www.hcvadvocate.org/hepatitis/factsheets_pdf/Patient%20Assistance%20Programs.pdf#search=%22paatient%20assistance%22
Hope that helps.
If you google "Patient Advocate Foundation" they can help immensely. They picked up the tab for my pegasys and riba. The bad part about it is you have to pay up front and they will reimburse you. If your hubby is on incivek, they have an aid program set up too, but I dont know how they pay if you dont have any insurance. Just dont give up, there are ways to get treatment, it just takes a little work.
The treatment is grossly expensive! Drugs alone can be well over $12,000.00 per month! Without insurance I would search for trial studies near you. If accepted in a trial, all costs of treatment (drugs and testing) are covered by the drug manufacturer.
we have no insurance and was able to get help with the first round of meds is this treatment expensive or does anyone know how we can get help with paying for the drugs?
My husband has hep c and has had it for some what years. We found out 06 he took the horrible meds and didn't finish or didn't respond however, he has not been to the doctor since then. I was just wondering what need meds are available to him today if I could get him to go to the doctor. He was gen 1a the hardest to treat we did have a bio done and it showed stage 1 grade 1. He says if there is no cure he doesnt want to go on any meds but I try to tell him that there are new meds but I just dont know what is avaiable to him. please help
Hello! There are several new drug treatments on the horizon and currently the approved (usual) drugs given for Genotype 1 is going to be what we call "triple therapy". They utilize a multi month combination of pegylated interferon and Ribavirin. The third med is either Incivek which is given 2-3x daily for 12 weeks or Victrelis, which is given 3x daily for 24(+) weeks after a 4 week lead in, depending on labs. The current treatments are full of side effects, many unpleasant. But it can be wise to start current therapy depending on your husband's current health to slow and/or stop the HCV progression. If his liver health is good and his doctors feel there is no risk in waiting for the very promising new drugs on the horizon, I would give good consideration to waiting. Whatever you choose, I wish you good luck and good health!
As far as when these new drugs may come along, I believe you may see something in the next year provided they obtain the planned approvals. Many are still in early to mid phase trials and their approval could be years away. I'll find one of the trial info links and will post it here. You can find a lot of good info using the Search function here.
http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/?ui=D006526&recruiting=true
-- Edited by Tig56 on Monday 5th of August 2013 10:04:09 PM
-- Edited by Tig56 on Monday 5th of August 2013 10:07:30 PM