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HEPATITIS DOCTOR HOME since October 1998

Welcome to patients with chronic viral hepatitis B or C and to their loved ones. The FDA approved

Incivek (telaprevir) May 23, 2011. It allows us to cure 2/3 of patients. Most will only need 24 weeks

of treatment instead of 48 or longer since Incivek (telaprevir) rapidly reduces HCV-RNA. If you are

cured, your viral level falls to undetectable during treatment and stays undetectable the rest of

your life, after you stop the medications. If your HCV-RNA level becomes detectable in your blood,

you were not cured. If your HCV-RNA is undetectable 6 months after your last injection of

interferon, you have a 99% chance of permanent cure. Liver damage stops and liver healing starts.

This improves survival and often restores health. You can read the PDF file of my poster from AASLD,

that demonstrates improved survival when HCV is cured. PDF file of AASLD poster 2011

I add information to this web site as often as I can, and I want to make it a resource for patients whom

are often incorrectly told that they cannot be helped. The opinions expressed here are entirely my

own, and are based on my experience in treating more than 4,000 patients with hepatitis C.

I am especially excited about the new oral medicines for patients with hepatitis C. I am a board

certified in internal medicine and gastroenterology. In addition, I completed 2 years of residency

in pathology at Duke University Medical Center. I have been a physician for 35 years. I spend about

95% of my time treating patients with chronic viral hepatitis C. I enjoy helping as many patients as

possible cure this infection.

I am very excited about Incivek, the HCV protease inhibitor from Vertex Pharmaceuticals . The

generic name is . It is taken by mouth every 8 hours and drops the viral level by 99%

in two days. When combined with Pegasys plus ribavirin, it greatly improves the cure rate in

genotype one patients. Telaprevir plus Pegasys and ribavirin eliminated HCV

in 75% of patients in the ADVANCE study with only 24 weeks of therapy. This treatment was

successful in 62% of African-American patients and 62% of patients with stage 3 or stage 4 fibrosis

(cirrhosis). Only 7% of patients had to stop the treatment because of side effects. Another HCV

protease inhibitor, , from Merck is also promising. Incivek Prescribing Information Link

Infergen 15 mcg daily plus ribavirin eliminates HCV in about 10% of nonresponders as demonstrated

Ribavirin does not add much to the fall in the viral level. It is the interferon that drives that response.

Ribavirin does not transform a nonresponder into a responder. What ribavirin does is greatly reduce

the chance of viral breakthrough (HCV-RNA falls with treatment, but then rises even

though treatment is continuing) or relapse in patients who respond to interferon. A relapser is a

patient who became undetectable for HCV-RNA on her previous treatment, but the virus came back

The CDC now recommends that Americans born between 1945 and 1965 be tested one time for HCV.

One third of persons with HCV die from complications of cirrhosis. We can lower the death rate

from HCV if we are aggressive in identifying infected patients. Cure the curable patients and lower

the death toll. Five million Americans are infected and we can cure more than half of them with

I am an advocate for patients infected with HCV. The medical insurance companies place too many

obstacles to block patients from going on or staying on the medications. I have seen many curable

Stage 3 and stage 4 HCV liver disease is life threatening and should be covered like cancer treatment,

coronary artery bypass surgery and kidney dialysis. HCV cirrhosis is just as deadly as these other

life-threatening diseases. Insurance companies should not discriminate against treatment of HCV,

I can give information, but cannot practice medicine over the internet. Patients with HCV should

consult a knowledgeable medical provider who treats large numbers of HCV infected patients

You can find more HCV information in the links below and the links on the left side of this page.