Aa
20 yr old, A1- would appreciate any answers
Thank you all for responding to my question regarding my 20 year old sister who is more like my daughter. Kait started treatment for Hep C 1A beg. of June with a viral load of 5 million. In August the labs came back that the virus was undetectable. Everything has been going well until this last lab which now shows a viral load of 4 million. Her physician is now saying that she should stop treatment or she needs to go to a shot every day instead of once a weak. She has tolerated the medication pretty well overall. Some members had mentioned new medications coming out, what are they and are they meant for 1a? Also, if she doesn't get treatment and her viral load stays so high can she have children someday? Thank you, Darla
Hi Darla—
If your sister remains detectable for virus at four months into therapy, she has very little to gain by continuing at this time. She might benefit from changing out her meds to Infergen, which is typically injected daily, but as a null responder her chances of clearing the virus at this point are slim.
If she hasn’t developed significant fibrosis at this point, she might be better off discontinuing the current treatment plan, and seeing what happens wit the new protease inhibitor drugs that are in late phase three trial right now.
These drugs will initially be used along with the current interferon and ribavirin as adjunctive medications. In clinical trial, they appear to be more efficacious; increasing the long-term viral response for genotype 1, treatment naïve patients from around 45% to roughly 70%. They also might reduce the treatment duration for select patients from 48 weeks to 24 weeks; this has shown effective in the trials, anyway.
The current belief is that these will be released sometime in 2011; however, there’s no telling the exact time this might happen, or even if these will prove as effective as they have in clinical trial.
Your sister should discuss these options carefully with her doctor; and get his/her take on this, so see if these might be appropriate for her. There may also be an option for her to enter into a clinical trial herself; she can discuss this option with her doctor as well.
If you want to investigate this further a little, the names of the two drugs closest to approval are “Telaprevir”, by Vertex pharmaceuticals, and “Boceprevir”, by Schering-Plough pharmaceuticals. There are many more compounds currently being investigated; this is a very exciting time to manage HCV; we’ve never had so many options to look forward to.
She can have children as she wishes; her HCV should not be an obstacle for her at any time. HCV is very rarely passed from mother to child; the ‘vertical transmission rate’, as it’s known, is less than 5%. However, she shouldn’t become pregnant while using the antiviral medications; the ribavirin may be toxic to the fetus, and cause birth defects.
Best of luck to you both—
Bill
If your sister remains detectable for virus at four months into therapy, she has very little to gain by continuing at this time. She might benefit from changing out her meds to Infergen, which is typically injected daily, but as a null responder her chances of clearing the virus at this point are slim.
If she hasn’t developed significant fibrosis at this point, she might be better off discontinuing the current treatment plan, and seeing what happens wit the new protease inhibitor drugs that are in late phase three trial right now.
These drugs will initially be used along with the current interferon and ribavirin as adjunctive medications. In clinical trial, they appear to be more efficacious; increasing the long-term viral response for genotype 1, treatment naïve patients from around 45% to roughly 70%. They also might reduce the treatment duration for select patients from 48 weeks to 24 weeks; this has shown effective in the trials, anyway.
The current belief is that these will be released sometime in 2011; however, there’s no telling the exact time this might happen, or even if these will prove as effective as they have in clinical trial.
Your sister should discuss these options carefully with her doctor; and get his/her take on this, so see if these might be appropriate for her. There may also be an option for her to enter into a clinical trial herself; she can discuss this option with her doctor as well.
If you want to investigate this further a little, the names of the two drugs closest to approval are “Telaprevir”, by Vertex pharmaceuticals, and “Boceprevir”, by Schering-Plough pharmaceuticals. There are many more compounds currently being investigated; this is a very exciting time to manage HCV; we’ve never had so many options to look forward to.
She can have children as she wishes; her HCV should not be an obstacle for her at any time. HCV is very rarely passed from mother to child; the ‘vertical transmission rate’, as it’s known, is less than 5%. However, she shouldn’t become pregnant while using the antiviral medications; the ribavirin may be toxic to the fetus, and cause birth defects.
Best of luck to you both—
Bill
Ugh, I'm really sorry your sister had a viral breakthrough after starting out so well.
I think most people would say she should stop treatment and wait for the newer medications, protease inhibitors (Telaprevir and Boceprevir) to be approved, likely in 201. They are specifically for Genotype 1.
She can certainly have children even if she is never cured. Her viral load is irrelevant to this. The frequency with which mothers pass the virus to their children is fairly low.
I'm sure others will chime in with more knowledge. Good luck to you both!
I think most people would say she should stop treatment and wait for the newer medications, protease inhibitors (Telaprevir and Boceprevir) to be approved, likely in 201. They are specifically for Genotype 1.
She can certainly have children even if she is never cured. Her viral load is irrelevant to this. The frequency with which mothers pass the virus to their children is fairly low.
I'm sure others will chime in with more knowledge. Good luck to you both!
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