Patients in low- and middle- income countries are enthusiastic about long-acting injections to treat hepatitis C virus.
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A LONGEVITY project paper has been published describing interests and attitudes of patients in diverse low- and middle- income countries (LMICs) towards receiving long-acting injectable treatments for hepatitis C virus.
A large number (78%) of respondents to a survey were willing to receive long-acting medicines, and this increased to 94% of those who had not previously received hepatitis C virus treatment. In the same year the World Health Organization (WHO) announced more than 3500 people die a day from hepatitis infections, these results shed light on the potential impact long-acting treatment for hepatitis C virus could have.
The research was undertaken by partners within the LONGEVITY project, funded by global health agency Unitaid, with international teams from three different World Health Organisation Regions recruited to help disseminate the survey. Headed by the University of Nebraska Medical Center with the Treatment Action Group, researchers received and analysed around 400 surveys from patients in Egypt, Ethiopia and India.
LMICs are to the sole focal point of LONGEVITY research and development. The LONGEVITY project is an international consortium whose goal is to create long-acting therapeutics for hepatitis C virus, malaria and tuberculosis in LMICs. These diseases are either preventable or treatable yet are disproportionately high in LMICs because current treatments aren’t yielding achievable benefits in these regions.
According to WHO, around 75% of global hepatitis C virus occurs in LMICs. Hepatitis C virus is often treatable over 8-12 weeks but with oral medication, that requires 168-252 pills taken at correct intervals. LONGEVITY investigators believe that providing the option of one injection lasting 8-12 weeks would dramatically tackle the hepatitis C virus burden in these regions.
The LONGEVITY consortium also published companion research earlier this year in relation to whether providers and policymakers in LMICs would welcome long-acting treatments. The overwhelming majority said yes.
However, what researchers and doctors believe and what patients want are not always the same thing, and continued community outreach is imperative to what the consortium are trying to achieve. Statistics showing 78% willingness to engage with medicines we are working to create suggests our belief and patients’ needs do align. Creating what patients want gets us one step closer to WHO’s goal to eliminate hepatitis by 2030.
The paper is titled ‘Preferences and Feasibility of Long-Acting Technologies for the Treatment of Hepatitis C Virus: A Survey of Patients in Diverse Low- and Middle-Income Countries’. It has been published in the Journal of Viral Hepatitis and is open access.
Prof. Sue Swindells from the University of Nebraska Medical Center said
we were very pleased to see such high levels of enthusiasm from patients in diverse countries about getting treatment for hepatitis C from a long-acting formulation. Injections were the most preferred, which was the same result we saw in the survey of healthcare providers. A single injection given at the point of care right after a diagnosis of hepatitis C could make an enormous difference in the global cure rates
Prof. Andrew Owen, co-director of the Centre of Excellence for Long-acting Therapeutics added
these data validate the acceptability of long-acting medicines in communities shouldering the major burden of disease, and provide the confidence we need to maintain our intense efforts to bring forth effective interventions for Hepatitis C virus that are much needed in low- and middle-income countries
The authors from LONGEVITY organisations represent University of Nebraska Medical Center, Treatment Action Group, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the Centre of Excellence for Long-acting Therapeutics.
There are more publications from the LONGEVITY project listed on this page.
The LONGEVITY project aims to simplify tuberculosis, malaria and hepatitis C virus treatment and preventative treatment to reduce the drug burden and the number of patients requiring complex therapies for active disease.
Find out more about the LONGEVITY project
The LONGEVITY Project is funded by global health agency Unitaid
The project also involves critical partners and collaborators in the University of Nebraska Medical Center, Johns Hopkins University, Clinton Health Access Initiative, Medicines Patent Pool, Tandem Nano Ltd., and Treatment Action Group.
