Utah woman says clinical trial cured her hepatitis C


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SALT LAKE CITY — Researchers at Intermountain Medical Center said they found a cure for hepatitis C, a common virus. The hospital led the worldwide 12 to 24 week clinical trial, testing 660 patients, half of them from the U.S.

Utah resident Gina Palmer-Douglas was part of the study.

"I am healthy and happy," she said. "I can stay up more than eight hours during the course of the day."

The last time Palmer-Douglas remembered feeling healthy was years ago. She said doctors diagnosed her with hepatitis C about 15 years ago. Hepatitis C is a blood-born virus that attacks the liver, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Most people who have the disease don't know they have it until they become sick with liver cancer or liver failure. The CDC website also reports that approximately 2.7 million people in the United States have chronic HCV infection, and the disease is prevalent among those born between 1945 and 1965, "the majority of whom were likely infected during the 1970s and 1980s when rates were highest."

Doctors report that others who are at risk for the disease include current or former injection drug users, anyone who had surgery or a blood transfusion before 1992, military personnel, those who have been homeless, and people who have been incarcerated.

Hepatitis C pushed Palmer-Douglas' kidneys into failure. She underwent two treatments about a decade ago that kept her alive, but she said she wasn't truly living.

"It's like having chemotherapy or the flu for a long period of time," she said. "Then 10 years ago, I received a liver transplant."

Five years later, Palmer-Douglas said the Hepatitis C began to attack her new liver. Then she learned about the clinical trial for Hepatitis C at Intermountain Medical Center.

"Gina and her fellow participants in the study were by far the sickest patients in the world to receive the medication at that point," said Dr. Michael Charlton, gastroenterologist at Intermountain Medical Center. "The medications were well tolerated by essentially everyone, but we didn't know that going in."

About hepatitis C:
What causes hepatitis C?
  • Contact with contaminated blood
What are its signs and symptoms?
1-3 months after exposure, those infected may experience:
  • Fatigue
  • Nausea or poor appetite
  • Stomach pain
  • Dark-colored urine
  • Yellow discoloration in the skin and eyes (jaundice)
  • Fever
  • Muscle and joint pains
Info: Mayo Clinic

Palmer-Douglas took one pill twice a day for 24 weeks. She said the drug cured her of Hepatitis C.

"I am clean-free," she said. "My hair is healthy. It doesn't look straggly. My skin is healthy. My eyes aren't yellow anymore."

The results of the study showed 95 percent of the patients were cured of Hepatitis C.

"We have even newer therapies for the 5 percent who don't respond (to the medication)," said Charlton.

Charlton said researchers hope to pinpoint exactly why some people did not respond to the medication.

"It's going to be a combination of the genetics and also characteristics of the virus," said Charlton. "There are things that the virus can do to become resistant to different parts of the therapy."

Related:

Charlton said one in 10 Utahns who have been diagnosed with Hepatitis C receive treatment for the disease. Charlton said there are at least 20,000 more who have the disease and should be receiving treatment.

"That means a great majority of people are at risk for getting, at some point, liver failure or liver cancer from Hepatitis C," said Charlton. "We want those people who have been diagnosed to re-engage their providers and seek treatment."

As more people get screened and receive treatment for Hepatitis C, Charlton said those patients can move off of the liver transplant waiting list to make room for other dire patients with illnesses other than Hepatitis C.

"About one in five people who are waiting for a liver transplant at the beginning of the year don't survive to get their transplant by the end of the year," said Charlton.

The hurdle now with treatment is the cost. It carries a price tag of roughly $65,000 to $130,000. Dr. Charlton said the treatment is only being offered through insurance "to patients with the most advance stage of liver disease."

Charlton also said nationally, there is no program in place to screen and treat the disease.

The study is published online in the journal Gastroenterology.

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