April 16 (Medical News Today)
Article
New research reveals the potential for community-based non-specialist providers to ease the growing pressure on specialist providers of Hepatitis C therapies.
A new study, presented today, demonstrates treatment for Hepatitis C can be provided safely and effectively within a community-based and non-specialist setting. This illustrates the potential for alternative providers to ease pressure on currently overburdened specialists. The study, sponsored by the National Institutes of Health, was presented at The International Liver Congress™ 2016 in Barcelona, Spain.
“The data presented here is extremely welcome and shows great potential to escalate treatment options and protocols for Hepatitis C. We have the therapies, we now need to make sure we can effectively roll them out to patients,” said Professor Tom Hemming Karlsen, EASL Vice-Secretary. “We know we have too few experienced specialists treating HCV and this is severely hampering our ability to eradicate this disease once and for all. This research has the potential to be a genuine game changer in the way we look at HCV treatment across the board, and could provide the opportunity to increase access to care and treatment to many regions of the world.”