There a BBC doc with him Bowie on The Cavet show circa The Young Americans
its an interesting watch ,you’ll see a young Luther Vandross on backing vocals too.

There is some amazing archives of him recording that album………

Al, this chap was a G3 F4 who did 12 weeks of Haravoni he was 12 throughout and
6 weeks from EOT was back where he started accept he was a G4.

Interestingly this guy also cleared the virus without treatment in his 20’s it came back years later I guess
he’s not the norm.

The good news is he’s on some new combo of sob and three new DAA the names of which escape
me this time he’s being Undetected since week 2 he’s at week 8 still UD.

Ya, it blew my mind too.

Poodle,reading your stats you say you believe G1A is in the hardest groups to treat everything I have read
suggests g1 are the easiest to treat.

It seems your now UD if you became UD at week 2/4 or /6 I wonder why its suggested you continue treatment maybe
you became UD later.

I’m G1B, as I was Detected up to week 6, I became UD at week 10 it was suggested prior to week 10s result I may need to
continue for 8/12 week extra.

The liver clinic I am in has had no Geno type 1 fail, G3 and G4 had failure rates in some instances mutating from G3 too G4.

I’m wondering why they suggest you continue.

Oh, I also have tinnitus, I don’t now in my case its relate to Hep C I have it about 10 months,its no better no worse since treatment.

Good luck.

Its an emotional journey you’re about to take I went through similar when I started.

Id be mind full of not getting hung it and try and take it as it comes.

Question One:

“What does this test mean?” This question is accompanied with test results such as:

HCV Viral Load (Log IU/mL) <1.18 NOT DETECTED

Answer: This is the very best news.

Undetectable means that hepatitis C is gone, and presumably all gone. The confusion over this test is because viral load tests don't measure down to zero. Further, viral load tests vary. For instance, the Abbott RealTime HCV assay (assay is a fancy word for a test that determines and measure the ingredients of something) measures down to 12 IU/mL in a 0.5 mL sample of blood. This means that if you have 12 IU/ml of hepatitis C (HCV RNA) in your blood, the test will detect it and count it. If you have less than 12, the test might not see it, and if it does, it won't be able to count it. .

Each test has its own detection range, some lower than others. The main thing is this:

"Not detected" = negative for hepatitis C
"Detected" or an actual number of how much HCV RNA you have = positive for hepatitis C

If you are concerned that you may have some residual HCV swimming around in your body, hoping to set up shop in your liver, rest assured, as this is quite unlikely. Hep C replicates a trillion times a day, so "not detected" might as well be zero. It is extremely unlikely that a small amount of HCV will remain alive in your body without having replicated to much higher amounts. In fact, viral load tends to replicate at much higher numbers when treatment fails.

Question Two:

I am on treatment with Harvoni. My pre-treatment viral load was X million. My week 4 (or week 8 or week 12) viral load came back detectable. I am devastated. Should I be?

Answer: No.

In the old days, back when treatment was long and used interferon, there were clear milestones that helped us know what our chances were of permanently clearing hepatitis C. Ignore all of that. New research funded the NIH Clinical Center showed that low levels of HCV RNA at the end of treatment are not predictive of treatment response among patients with hepatitis C virus treated with interferon-free regimens. (Clinical Infectious Diseases, March 2, 2015) In fact, low levels of HCV RNA detected at the end of treatment, and even post-therapy, do not signify treatment failure.

Here is a bit more information. Sidharthan and colleagues enrolled 114 subjects with chronic HCV/genotype 1 and no prior treatment. Six patients with detectable viral load at the end of treatment achieved a sustained virologic response (SVR12). You can read more about it: Utility of Hepatitis C Viral Load Monitoring on Directly Acting Antiviral Therapy - S Sreetha Sidharthan, et al.

The bottom line is that a detectable viral load at the end of treatment DOES NOT mean that treatment failed when using Harvoni-based treatment.

Important:
Don't despair if you have detectable virus during or at the end of HCV treatment.
Be sure your doctor doesn't stop treatment just because you have detectable HCV RNA. The HCV guidelines recommend viral load testing after 4 weeks of therapy and at 12 weeks following treatment completion. If quantitative HCV viral load is detectable at week 4 of treatment, repeat viral load testing at treatment week 6. If viral load has increased by greater than 10-fold on repeat testing at week 6 (or thereafter), then discontinuation of HCV treatment is recommended. There are no other recommendations to stop or extend therapy based on viral load results.

I think he needs to have this looked at as best I know 12 suggests they can not say for sure you're undetected
it simply means the virus is too low to quantify.

I know, a chap who was 12 all the way through treatment at week 12 post treatment he was back
detected. Id double check to be sure.

Note; I thought prior to starting treatment everyone would be non detected by week 4 at the latest you can imagine
I was some what taken a back to find out at week 5 plus I'd a VL of 17 therefore my chances are lower I will be UD by week 12.

Gilead disregarded all VL testing during the trials for this reason. At week 2/4/6/8/10/12 if you're in the easy Geno types
if you're UN not 12 UD you've a 99% chance six months post treatment you're cured.

In fact at EOT 12 can turn out to be cured six months post treatment.

But, if you're 12 all the way through its possible you need to extend treatment due to resistance,suggesting you're
UD at 12 is not factual.

My point is this not everyone clears at week 2 telling them the lab is wrong is not always factual
or correct patients need to understand what these tests mean not what we think they mean.

She may need to do 24 weeks treatment the reason the majority stop at 12 weeks when
detected is they insurance will no loner pay.

At nearly six weeks my VL was 17 I’ve not done any bloods since and will do the next one
at close to week 10 I may need to do 24 weeks.

The facts are VL can and do go up and down during treatment even if your showing Detected at
week 12 you’re not considered failed as 24 weeks post treatment is cured.

The chances are if you’re UD from early on you’ll remain so at 12 weeks

Its an interesting issue, I think the manufactures across all brands have managed to not only keep generics of normal
drugs at bay in Ireland they must have some influence in the aspect of imports via mail or online.

The decision is made by the medical board, I think as its a small country you’d probably not get generics through the
mail or Fed Ex hence i picked mine up in the UK.

For example. We have the highest prices world wide ,we have nearly no generics across all drugs,we the consumer
pay a Max of 140 per month on drugs anything above that is covered by the Health authority.

Our budget for Hep C treatment in 2105 was 36 million at 60 k per treatment over all the market in Ireland is only
2 Billion for everything I’ve seen the Govt try and get generics written for basic shit they seem to have a awful job
getting GP”s on board.

Over all my point is many European Countries have a very protected market when it comes to Medicines.

Ps; Monkmed looks great too me!