Lismore Liver Clinic is now able to accept referrals for assessment and monitoring of patients accessing generic medications for the treatment of hep C. Please note that this does not represent an endorsement of the use of generics, but rather an acceptance that if patients are doing this expert monitoring is within their scope of practice. […]
Author Archives: Dr James
08
Oct
Oct
So what is this image? It is a patient safety check. Each coloured line represents a single patient’s self imported Sofosbuvir being tested against a reference standard. Yes it’s just lines but for each chemical there is a unique NMR signature represented by the spikes in those lines, but let’s rewind….. Back in February when […]
So last night the TPP got the nod in the US. So what is it and what does it mean? It’s supposed to be a free trade agreement, but it apparently has some catches, particularly around medications and patents. Sadly it’s actually impossible to know what it means because to date it’s a largely secret […]
The thing with Hep C is that it’s not about anonymous statistics, it’s about real people. Here’s the story of one patient, and his wife’s journey through Interferon and failure and then to self initiated treatment and cure via the parallel import of generic DAA medications that was published in the Sydney Morning Herald and […]
A patient posted a link that contained a powerpoint presentation from Dr Andrew Hill, PhD. I asked Dr Hill if I could post it here and he said yes. I turned that into a very quick YouTube movie, so you will probably have to pause it to read it. The attachments include the original PPT (and a […]
A story about the genesis of this initiative titled Big pharmaceuticals and the Hepatitis C drug trail dubbed a ‘miracle cure’ ran this morning in The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/big-pharmaceuticals-and-the-hepatitis-c-drug-trail-dubbed-a-miracle-cure-20150924-gjtupf.html There is also another story in the Sydney Morning Herald specifically about the FixHepC Buyers Club called Hepatitis C drug buyers club aims to set […]
Hepatitis Australia is using new data released from the Kirby Institute today showing only one per cent of people with hep C received treatment last year to push the government to list new hep C drugs without delay. “It’s time for action,” said Kevin Marriott, Hepatitis Australia Acting CEO. “It’s time of the federal government […]
21
Sep
Sep
It has always been a worry that the powers that be may not like the idea of patients parallel importing life saving medications. The Buyers Club has been active for less than 24 hours and already it seems the battle lines are being drawn: http://www.pharmainfocus.com.au/ The TGA has a job to do, and that is to […]
In the last blog reference was made to the failed 2014 PBAC submission, simply because I could not find the PBAC outcome. Somebody has been kind enough to flag my attention to the PBAC 2015 recommendation papers which you can read here: http://www.pbs.gov.au/info/industry/listing/elements/pbac-meetings/psd/2015-03/sofosbuvir-sovaldi-psd-03-2015 http://www.pbs.gov.au/info/industry/listing/elements/pbac-meetings/psd/2015-03/harvoni-ledipasvir-sofosbuvir-psd-03-2015 Sadly the original analysis still largely holds. In no particular order, […]
13
Sep
Sep
In Australia there has been optimism about the PBACs decision to recommend that Hep C treatments are put on the PBS. Some people seem to think that what this means is that these new medications may well be widely available at affordable prices. Sadly that is unlikely to be the case, for a number reasons, […]