A research paper based on trials of a recent drug has once again brought international attention to the Charlotte County Hepatitis C Clinic.
What makes the clinic stand out this time is the use of the drug Harvoni.
“The company that makes it, Gilead Sciences
Inc., is proud of us because we’re getting a 100 percent result,” said Dr. David Klein, a Port Charlotte ophthalmologist who co-authored the paper. “Every person we use it on — and we have some tough customers, very resistant species of virus, people whose treatment has failed — is getting a 100 percent response. Everybody gets the virus cleared in 12 weeks.”
“Cost Effective Management of Non- Interferon Based Therapy for Chronic Hepatitis C Virus (HCV)” — written by Drs. Mark Asperilla, Klein and J. Hishmeh, and registered nurse Cynthia Neads — is being presented by Dr. Asperilla, a Port Charlotte infectious disease specialist, during the Third Euro-Global Conference on Infectious Diseases held Sept. 5-6 in Frankfurt, Germany. This is the fourth time the clinic has made a contribution in hepatitis C care notable enough to be recognized at an international level.
Harvoni is not an inexpensive proposition. Each daily dose costs $1,000. Fortunately, Gilead is donating the medication at no cost to the clinic.
“We’re the only free (hepatitis C) clinic in the country,” Dr. Klein said. “Imagine a free clinic getting their hands on a $1,000-a-day medicine. This is a cost-effective way of treating a very expensive disease.”
Hepatitis C is a liver disease that ranges in severity from a mild illness lasting a few weeks (acute) to a serious, lifelong illness (chronic) that attacks the liver, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It results from infection with the hepatitis C virus (HCV), which is spread primarily through contact with the blood of an infected person.
Dr. Klein has referred to the disease as “a public health menace.” An estimated 2.7 million persons in the United States have chronic HCV infection — yet most people don’t know they are infected because they don’t look or feel sick. Approximately 75 to 85 percent of those who become infected develop a chronic condition.
Seeing the increase of hepatitis C in the county — it was higher than the national average, and Charlotte was ranked in the top 10 in the state for number of infections — Drs. Asperilla and Klein collaborated to open the Charlotte County Hepatitis C Clinic, a public health clinic dedicated solely to patients who suffer from hepatitis C, making it the first of its kind in Florida. The clinic officially opened Jan. 5, 2012, with the help of grants totaling $220,000, due to the efforts of Mary Kay Burns at the Charlotte County Health Department and the Board of Charlotte County Commissioners.
The physicians staff the clinic at no charge, and Dr. Asperilla’s office at 3300 N. Tamiami Trail in Port Charlotte serves as the clinic’s venue. The only cost is the patients’ blood work, which is provided at a reduced rate from the labs.
Although the cost of Harvoni is steep, Dr. Klein believes it’s worth it, simply due to its 100 percent clearance rate.
“If you don’t clear the virus, the patient goes on developing chronic hepatitis, using up thousands of dollars in health care over the years as they get sicker and sicker,” he explained. “We don’t have any treatment failures, so you don’t have to worry about these people getting hepatitis back again or getting sick with other diseases because of the hepatitis. So in the long run, it’s a great investment for the community.”
Last year, the clinic was serving about 100 patients, but there were another 200 on a waiting list. It is, Dr. Klein note, a highly contagious disease.
Hepatitis C is usually spread when blood from a person infected with the Hepatitis C virus enters the body of someone who is not infected. Because of its spread through the sharing of needles among drug users, it became classified as the disease of junkies or substance abusers.
Even with the media attention that suggests otherwise, hepatitis C patients still face a stigma that it’s a drug-user’s ailment. It’s a perspective that makes Dr. Klein bristle.
“People assume that they’re all drug addicts that we’re treating, and that’s not true,” he said. “Some of them were IV drug users, but a lot of them innocently had a tattoo or they had a transfusion, or they were a first responder up to their ears in blood, either in civilian life or in the army. And 20 percent of our patients have no risk factors — we don’t know how they got it. It’s an extremely contagious virus.
“You can’t look down your nose at people who have it. It could happen to anybody. You could have a grandkid going to college, and one day he and his buddies go get tattoos and — bingo! — everybody’s got it. So don’t judge.” ¦
What makes the clinic stand out this time is the use of the drug Harvoni.
“The company that makes it, Gilead Sciences
Inc., is proud of us because we’re getting a 100 percent result,” said Dr. David Klein, a Port Charlotte ophthalmologist who co-authored the paper. “Every person we use it on — and we have some tough customers, very resistant species of virus, people whose treatment has failed — is getting a 100 percent response. Everybody gets the virus cleared in 12 weeks.”
“Cost Effective Management of Non- Interferon Based Therapy for Chronic Hepatitis C Virus (HCV)” — written by Drs. Mark Asperilla, Klein and J. Hishmeh, and registered nurse Cynthia Neads — is being presented by Dr. Asperilla, a Port Charlotte infectious disease specialist, during the Third Euro-Global Conference on Infectious Diseases held Sept. 5-6 in Frankfurt, Germany. This is the fourth time the clinic has made a contribution in hepatitis C care notable enough to be recognized at an international level.
Harvoni is not an inexpensive proposition. Each daily dose costs $1,000. Fortunately, Gilead is donating the medication at no cost to the clinic.
“We’re the only free (hepatitis C) clinic in the country,” Dr. Klein said. “Imagine a free clinic getting their hands on a $1,000-a-day medicine. This is a cost-effective way of treating a very expensive disease.”
Hepatitis C is a liver disease that ranges in severity from a mild illness lasting a few weeks (acute) to a serious, lifelong illness (chronic) that attacks the liver, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It results from infection with the hepatitis C virus (HCV), which is spread primarily through contact with the blood of an infected person.
Dr. Klein has referred to the disease as “a public health menace.” An estimated 2.7 million persons in the United States have chronic HCV infection — yet most people don’t know they are infected because they don’t look or feel sick. Approximately 75 to 85 percent of those who become infected develop a chronic condition.
Seeing the increase of hepatitis C in the county — it was higher than the national average, and Charlotte was ranked in the top 10 in the state for number of infections — Drs. Asperilla and Klein collaborated to open the Charlotte County Hepatitis C Clinic, a public health clinic dedicated solely to patients who suffer from hepatitis C, making it the first of its kind in Florida. The clinic officially opened Jan. 5, 2012, with the help of grants totaling $220,000, due to the efforts of Mary Kay Burns at the Charlotte County Health Department and the Board of Charlotte County Commissioners.
The physicians staff the clinic at no charge, and Dr. Asperilla’s office at 3300 N. Tamiami Trail in Port Charlotte serves as the clinic’s venue. The only cost is the patients’ blood work, which is provided at a reduced rate from the labs.
Although the cost of Harvoni is steep, Dr. Klein believes it’s worth it, simply due to its 100 percent clearance rate.
“If you don’t clear the virus, the patient goes on developing chronic hepatitis, using up thousands of dollars in health care over the years as they get sicker and sicker,” he explained. “We don’t have any treatment failures, so you don’t have to worry about these people getting hepatitis back again or getting sick with other diseases because of the hepatitis. So in the long run, it’s a great investment for the community.”
Last year, the clinic was serving about 100 patients, but there were another 200 on a waiting list. It is, Dr. Klein note, a highly contagious disease.
Hepatitis C is usually spread when blood from a person infected with the Hepatitis C virus enters the body of someone who is not infected. Because of its spread through the sharing of needles among drug users, it became classified as the disease of junkies or substance abusers.
Even with the media attention that suggests otherwise, hepatitis C patients still face a stigma that it’s a drug-user’s ailment. It’s a perspective that makes Dr. Klein bristle.
“People assume that they’re all drug addicts that we’re treating, and that’s not true,” he said. “Some of them were IV drug users, but a lot of them innocently had a tattoo or they had a transfusion, or they were a first responder up to their ears in blood, either in civilian life or in the army. And 20 percent of our patients have no risk factors — we don’t know how they got it. It’s an extremely contagious virus.
“You can’t look down your nose at people who have it. It could happen to anybody. You could have a grandkid going to college, and one day he and his buddies go get tattoos and — bingo! — everybody’s got it. So don’t judge.” ¦
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