Any New treatments for HipC

[Wife1234]

My husband was diagnosed with Hip C 5 years ago. he is in the stage 2, geno1.  he doesnt want to get treatment but im worried for him! Everyone is talking about 48 weeks of treatmetns, but i heard  new drugs were FDA approved! Can you please let us know and if you know any good doctors in NY, NJ area!

[copyman]

dr john santoro in egg harbor twp, NJ. They also run clinical trials out of his office

[Advocate1955]

If you husband was diagnosed 5 years ago, about 2007-8, the newest treatment since then is called triple therapy.  It includes Interferon, Ribavirin, and one or the other of the two protease inhibitors (Incivek or Victrellis).  The length of treatment depends on several theings:  1) the amount of liver damage he currently has, and 2) which of the two triple therapies he chooses.  Generally speaking, people with f2 or f1 treat for 24 weeks, and people with f3 or f4 treat for 48 weeks.  These treatments were approved in May of 2012, and there are no newer approved Hep C treatments available yet.  Since he was f2 5 years ago, I strongly recommend that he see an experienced grastroenterologist (one who is familiar with both Hep C and liver damage) or a hepatologist.  My guess is that a good doctor would be monitoring him at least once a year, checking his labs, and following up with him.  My guess is that he probably should have had a liver biopsy a couple of years ago to check to see what his liver damage was at that time (3 years after diagnosis), and if he hasn't had a second biopsy, my guess is he should do that now.  There is no way for him to make an informed decision about when to treat his Hep C without knowing what stage of liver damage he has right now, and it sounds like he may have his head buried in the sand about his Hep C.
Please encourage him to follow up with someone knowledgeable and experienced in liver damage and Hep C.
Advocate1955

[stormy456]

Welcome to the forum.  My husband recently completed treatment for HepC, Stage 2-3, geno1 as well.  It was a 24 week treatment, and while it wasn't easy, it wasn't as bad as we expected.  Also, now that he's 6 months post treatment, he is considered cured of the virus, so it was all well worth it.  If he/we had to do it again, we would in a heartbeat.  I urge you both to find a reputable hepatologist in the area, and to explore your options.  

While there are new, possibly better treatments on the horizon, there are several people on this forum who's liver disease progressed from an F2 to an F4 (cirrhosis) in a fairly short period of time, so treatment now  should be at least a consideration.  

I'm sure you're both confused and frightened, but if you take the time to educate yourself, you will have a much clearer idea of what your options are for treatment.  I will PM you with a link to my husband blog, it might be helpful to you both.