NHS promises to lead the global elimination of hepatitis C

The NHS will treat tens of thousands of additional people with hepatitis C as part of an agreement to make England the first country in the world to eliminate the deadly virus and carry out a global elimination

More than 30,000 people have already benefited from new drugs that cure hepatitis C on the NHS in recent years.

Thanks to this investment, the mortality rate from hepatitis C-related liver disease has already decreased by more than 16% between 2015 and 2017. The NHS also finds savings in costs related to the decrease in the number of transplants liver in patients with hepatitis C, a reduction of nearly 40% in 2017 compared to 2015.

Now, as part of the long-term plan and through a one-of-a-kind agreement announced today, NHS England and three pharmaceutical companies will work together to proactively identify and respond to people who may not know what is happening. They have hepatitis C, including: homeless people and people with mental health problems.

Simon Stevens, Executive Director of NHS England, said:

"It is not often that the opportunity to completely eradicate a disease presents itself, but the NHS is currently taking concrete steps to achieve this goal.

"The sophisticated and rigorously rigorous negotiations of the NHS on behalf of patients and taxpayers mean that we are now able to reach affordable agreements with our life science partners to save even more lives and reduce their lives." significant health inequalities. "

Hepatitis C is a virus that can infect the liver and, if left untreated, cause serious or even fatal damage for many years. The virus is usually spread by blood-to-blood contact.

It is estimated that in England 113,000 people are living with chronic hepatitis C.

Many people with hepatitis C will live without a diagnosis, the infection often showing no specific symptoms until the liver is seriously damaged. When symptoms appear, they can often be confused with other conditions.

The long-term plan of the NHS focuses on reducing inequalities in health. This agreement will provide services to remote and hard-to-reach communities, including the homeless, people with mental disorders and other high-risk groups.

In addition to providing the five new anti-hepatitis C drugs at the best price for the NHS and taxpayers, the three pharmaceutical companies will also launch initiatives – in collaboration with local health departments, councils and volunteer groups – which will search for potential patients, search for infections and provide treatment for those who need it.

Experts predicted that this combined approach could lead to the elimination of hepatitis C as a public health problem in England over the long-term NHS plan.

Rachel Halford, Executive Director of Hepatitis C Trust, said:

"The Hepatitis C Trust is delighted with this development. At present, 69% of people with the virus are undiagnosed. Therefore, funding provided in the agreement to help find people with hepatitis C and help them with treatment is revolutionary.

"We believe that this agreement offers all stakeholders – patient organizations, pharmaceutical companies, clinicians, prison health services and addict services – a unique opportunity to work together to reach everyone involved.

"By reaching out to the most marginalized and hardest to mobilize, we will ensure that no one is left behind and we avoid unnecessary deaths."

The new agreement will allow the NHS to collaborate with Gilead Sciences, Merck Sharp and Dohme (MSD) and AbbVie, with the common goal of eliminating hepatitis C as a major public health problem in England, prior to the Purpose of the World Health Organization (WHO). from 2030.

This agreement stems from a new approach to procurement adopted by NHS England, which aims to maximize competition between pharmaceutical companies to ensure the best possible deal for patients and taxpayers. The NHS England strategy was supported by the High Court in January earlier this year.

Professor Graham Foster, NHS England National Chair in Hepatitis C Research, said:

"The clinical community is excited about the opportunities offered by this new initiative that will allow us to go further and more quickly in our efforts to eliminate hepatitis C as a major health problem in England.

"The new purchase allows us to prescribe all available treatments for hepatitis C and the increased focus on case finding will allow us to extend services to the most vulnerable in our society."

Progress to date in the treatment of hepatitis C includes:

The creation of 22 "operational distribution networks" in each region of England has led to improved treatment in local areas and to ensuring that all patients have access to the treatment they need, regardless of their location of residence. This will improve areas in which service delivery is historically low.

In 2017, a national registry of patients with hepatitis C was put in place, which allows to record and monitor in real time the treatment management, the results obtained and the number of patients. increased rates of diagnosis.

The purchase of hepatitis C is the latest in a series of smart acts that the NHS has concluded to generate value for the taxpayer and benefits for patients.

These include a saving of £ 300 million after negotiating agreements with five manufacturers on low-cost versions of the health service's most expensive drug, adalimumab; the conclusion of the first comprehensive access agreement in Europe for CAR-T treatment, which can potentially cure some children and adults with blood cancers when other treatments have failed; and reaching an agreement to make pembrolizumab, an anti-cancer drug for lung cancer that is intended to prolong life, available for routine use in the NHS.