Plans for hep C to be eliminated in Ireland by 2026

Plans to extend a breakthrough treatment for hepatitis C to eliminate the disease in Ireland over the next 10 years have been announced by the HSE.

Between 20,000 and 50,000 people in Ireland are chronically infected with hepatitis C, but half are unaware they have it.

Since late 2014, 700 people have been treated with direct-acting antiviral drugs. These can cure the disease in most patients.

Hepatitis C became a notifiable disease in 2004 and, since then, 14,500 people diagnosed with it have been reported to the HSE’s Health Protection Surveillance Centre. Between 700 and 800 new cases are reported to the HPSC every year.

Hepatitis C is spread mainly by blood-to-blood contact. In 15-30% of cases, the body’s defence system can eliminate the disease, but the others develop chronic infection.

A National Hepatitis C Treatment Programme was set up in 2015 to eliminate the disease in Ireland by 2026.

At first, the sickest patients were prioritised — those with end-stage liver disease and cirrhosis, and patients infected by contaminated blood products.

Health Minister Simon Harris welcomed the extension of the clinical eligibility to directly-acting antivirals drug treatments.

Mr Harris said the HSE extended the treatment programme using the €30m in government funding provided for in the 2016 HSE National Service Plan.

The HSE is confident that everyone affected will have started treatment by the end of next year. The new direct-acting antivirals give 90% of those treated the chance of being cured.

“Expanding the programme will enable more people to get that chance at a cure, improving their lives immeasurably, while also helping free-up scarce resources in our hospitals,” said Mr Harris.

Consultant hepatologist and clinical lead for the National Hepatitis C Treatment Programme, Suzanne Norris, said the new phase allowed them to include an additional 1,500 people in the treatment programme.

“It is not often that we say we can cure a patient of a disease, but these new medicines offer the chance of a cure in excess of 90% of patients who complete a course of treatment,” said Prof Norris.

The drugs act directly on the virus, so they stop it reproducing within the liver, and the outcomes are significantly better. Before 2014, the treatment for patients with hepatitis C consisted of an injection every week and tablets every day over 48 weeks. Infection clearance rates would have been between 50% and 70%.