Dan what week are you at in treatment and when did you have your last VL test done I would have waited at
least another two weeks between tests.

You know, I have to say again I think comparing those on Twinvir and their VL results at any time throughout
the 12 weeks is not helpful to anyone least of all the people taking those drugs.

VL testing is not a competitive sport I really would like to ask some posters to be mindful this can
be a very stressful time for those waiting on results.

If I could make a suggestion; I think Beacon and its reps should be taking and processing orders
at your a beacon@ emails I think using G Mail is strange.

You are handling sensitive information for all kinds of best reasons,best practice suggest you use
your companies email address.

I don’t know of anyone buying Dav I do know of plenty of other patients in the US buying Hep C
medications for any number of sources listed on this site.

I know quite a few people whom have Hep C and Hep B all have so far managed too
clear the virus using the new treatments.

I’m no expert……maybe James can chime in on this.

You’re a F3 look in the forum there is a chart posted!

DTD we don’t know it can be bought at the price you suggest the evidence we have thus far
suggests its not the case.

I don’t see much point in trying to figure out how much a large business
has paid for a product never mind the figures quoted don’t take into account
the actual cost of a business like labor/factories/managers/marketing to name a few.

Sure, 300 is a lot in your country every country has issues with pricing, what do you want
we promote something we can’t verify what happens if someone dies.

I’m not defending the prices being quoted I think they will come down.

That’s a pointless Test I’m lost why they would bother its not helpful.

It was me that was still detected at late week 5 there was concern with my profile I was behaving
like a f4 I decided to extend treatment due to factors outside my control I could not take bloods till
week 10 at that point I was UD who knows when I became UD.

Personally, knowing what I know now I would only do bloods at week 4/8 and 12,its to easy
to get caught up with other results which is not healthy or fair on ourselves.

Jazz, F0 is a very low score you’re perfect for treatment ,Geno types also play into the equation
I would not worry at week 4 you’re not clear……….

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.