A disease you may never have heard of is slowly damaging the health of a quarter of Americans. In San Antonio and the Valley, fatty liver disease affects nearly half the population, including up to 20 percent of children and adolescents – about twice...
By Naim Alkhouri, Fred Poordad, and Eric Lawitz Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is considered the hepatic manifestation of insulin resistance, which is the hallmark of type 2 diabetes (T2D). NAFLD is a known risk factor for developing T2D and has a very high prevalence...
As we conclude another year now past the peak of hepatitis C research, HCV Nextasked me to consider where we came from, where we are now, and where we’re headed. They wanted me to address potential new mechanisms of action for DAA therapies, shorter...
By Gail Connor Roche Patients with the hepatitis C virus (HCV) who received a 16-week regimen of glecaprevir and pibrentasvir (Mavyret) achieved high sustained virologic response (SVR) rates after previous treatments had failed, new findings show. An international team of researchers studied 91 individuals with...
BY LIZ HARROUN Due to rising rates of childhood obesity and diabetes in Texas, non-alcohol induced fatty liver disease is the number one need for transplant in young adults. We sat down with Dr. Poordad of the Texas Liver Institute to learn what is...
Dr. Eric Lawitz, internationally recognized for his work in liver disease, published groundbreaking results from a Phase 3 study in patients with chronic hepatitis C infection and severe renal impairment. The study was performed at the American Research Corp at the Texas Liver Institute, a world-renowned...
(Reuters Health) – Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and its more aggressive form, nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, have become the fastest-growing reasons for liver transplants in young Americans, according to a recent study. Typically, older adults experience the slow progression of fatty liver disease that is not...
Patients with hepatitis C genotype 3, with or without compensated cirrhosis, achieved significantly high rates of sustained virologic response after treatment with Mavyret and experienced no significant adverse events related to the drug, according to recently published data from a phase 3 study. Fred...
Cirrhosis, or advanced fibrosis of the liver, presents with many challenges such as complications associated with portal hypertension, but in today’s medical climate, it must also be considered in relation to nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, an emerging epidemic. The two most common causes of...
Does liver disease hurt? This is a common question that our hepatologists are asked at the Texas Liver Institute so we decided to answer it! The liver does not contain nerve fibers that sense pain. Therefore, liver tissue can be cut, burned, or develop...
Is acetaminophen (Tylenol®) or NSAIDS (ibuprofen or asprin) safe for individuals with liver disease? Contrary to many peoples beliefs, acetaminophen can be used in patients with chronic liver disease (CLD). Most experts suggest up to 2 grams of acetaminophen a day in non-consecutive days...
PANGENOTYPIC HCV REGIMENS: ALL FOR ONE AND ONE FOR ALL It’s no secret the incredible advancements in Hepatitis C treatment over the past 5 years, but it may come as a surprise that pangenotypic regimens are available. All patients, regardless of genotype (GT 1, 2, 3, 4,...
Transient Elastography (FibroScan) Non-Invasive Liver Fibrosis Assessment Accurately staging liver disease is important in the determination for and monitoring of a treatment regimen. A well-studied technology has become available to complement the clinical tests that are already used, called ElastPQ (FibroScan). ElastPQ is a...
Liver disease is serious and can go undetected for years. That is why the Texas Liver Institute offers seminars, free screens and lots more. Watch this video to learn more and be sure to stay informed so you can better help others and yourself!...
Study findings shed light on effective new HCV therapy that will treat patients who have failed other therapies San Antonio, Texas, April 27, 2017 (Newswire.com) – Dr. Fred Poordad, internationally recognized for his research in the field of liver diseases, presented a retreatment study...
SAN ANTONIO, /PRNewswire/ — The Texas Liver Institute announced that Dr. Naim Alkhouri has joined the staff as their Director of the Metabolic Center and will have a leadership role in the Pediatric Liver Disease Program at University Hospital and UT Health. Dr. Alkhouri is...
By Ray Cavanaugh Ray Cavanaugh is a freelance writer from Boston, MA. His interests include history, health topics, and current events in faraway places. They have fatty liver disease, but they aren’t alcoholic, nor are they adults. In the US alone, about seven million...
Fatty liver is a condition where the liver becomes infiltrated with fat. Most people with fatty liver are overweight, have diabetes or pre-diabetes.
SAN ANTONIO — Fatty liver disease can be caused by drinking too much, but in many men genetics and diet can trigger the illness. “There are a lot of untapped mysteries in the liver that we are discovering every day,” said Dr. Fred Poordad,...
Just a few years ago the outlook for treating patients with chronic hepatitis C was grim. For almost a year, patients would receive a complicated regimen of shots and up to 18 pills a day with drugs that caused major side effects. After that,...
Watch the Dr. Phil interview with Dr. Poordad
BARCELONA — Combination therapy with ABT-493, a novel NS3/4A protease inhibitor, and ABT-530, a pangenotypic NS5A inhibitor, produced sustained virologic response rates around 90% in a cohort of treatment-experienced patients, including those with resistance-associated variants, according to findings presented at the International Liver Congress....
BARCELONA — An investigational drug combination offers renewed hope of a cure for chronic hepatitis C (HCV) patients who have tried and failed therapy with the new direct-acting antiviral agents, a researcher said here. Cure rates with the new agents — sofosbuvir (Sovaldi), combined...
BARCELONA — A new three-pronged approach to hepatitis C virus effectively treated prior non-responders with genotype 1, according to a presenter at the International Liver Congress. “As increasing numbers of patients get treated, the number of patients that, cumulatively, will fail will increase over...
BARCELONA — In this video perspective from the International Liver Congress, Fred Poordad, MD, discusses the combination treatment of ABT-493 and ABT-530 (AbbVie) for patients who previously failed direct-acting antiviral therapies. “These two next generation agents are truly potent pan-genotypic and for many of...
– 95 percent of patients achieved SVR12 with 12 weeks of ABT-493 and ABT-530 with and without RBV in GT1 chronic HCV infected patients without cirrhosis who failed previous therapy with DAAs in a modified intent-to-treat analysis – 91 percent achieved SVR12 with RBV...
AbbVie (NYSE: ABBV) announced that 91 percent (n=20/22) of genotype 1 (GT1) chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infected patients who failed previous therapy with direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) achieved SVR12 with 12 weeks of ABT-493 and ABT-530 with ribavirin (RBV) in the primary intent-to-treat analysis....
http://medpagetoday.s3.amazonaws.com/media/sponsors/hothcv/Pipeline2.mp4 MedPage Today invited specialists from leading medical institutions to weigh in on the latest advancements in hepatitis C with one question each day for 10 days. In this installment, we asked: “DAAS in the pipeline: What’s coming?” Our participants are: Fred Poordad, MD,...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has granted amended Breakthrough Therapy Designation for an investigational combination of drugs that show great promise for treating the sickest hepatitis C patients—those with advanced cirrhosis and those who have had a liver transplant but the virus has...
MedPage Today invited specialists from leading medical institutions to weigh in on the latest advancements in hepatitis C with one question each day for 10 days. In this installment, we asked “Who is at risk and how can they be reached?” Our participants are:...
At the time, the medication Joey was taking kept the disease from progressing. But it had debilitating side effects. “I would feel the side effects like days after. It would kind of linger on, then finally when I would start feeling good, it would be...
A medical breakthrough tested in San Antonio is opening doors for patients diagnosed with hepatitis C. The virus can be deadly, but now researchers say they’ve found a cure for those suffering from advanced stages of the disease. People like Joey Libby. Libby was...
Treatment-naive and experienced patients with chronic hepatitis C virus genotype 1 infection without cirrhosis achieved a sustained virologic response at 12 weeks while on a fixed-dose regimen of daclatasvir, asunaprevir and beclabuvir, according to newly published data in JAMA. Fred Poordad, MD, of the...
97% of post-transplant patients with HCV genotype 1a achieved cure 91% of post-transplant patients with HCV genotype 3 achieved cure No need seen to alter existing transplantation medication regimens Saturday, April 25, 2015 10:00 am EDT (PRINCETON, N.J., APRIL 25, 2015) – Bristol-Myers...
Merck has released first presentations of data from C-EDGE phase III clinical trial of grazoprevir/elbasvir in patients with or without cirrhosis who are infected with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotypes 1, 4 or 6 (GT1, 4 or 6). The report highlights that a...
Janssen Sciences Ireland UC, one of the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson (Janssen), announced results for its hepatitis C treatment simeprevir at The International Liver Congress™ 2015. New data for simeprevir comfirms its efficacy when combined with sofosbuvir “The new data for...
Bidness Etc takes a look at how Merck’s new drug is different from the currently available drugs by Gilead and AbbVie and what analysts think about the competition it can bring to the HCV market Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) announced Friday that its...
More than 70% of people with chronic genotype 1 hepatitis C who did not achieve a sustained virological response when treated with sofosbuvir/ledipasvir (Harvoni) for 8 or 12 weeks were cured with a subsequent 24-week course of the same two drugs, according to a...
An interferon-free regimen of sofosbuvir, daclatasvir and ribavirin for 12 weeks produced sustained response rates of 83% for people with hepatitis C virus (HCV) who had advanced liver cirrhosis and 94% for people who had received liver transplants, with similar cure rates for those...
VIENNA — An investigational drug combination had high efficacy among patients with cirrhosis associated with hepatitis C (HCV) or recurrence of the disease after a transplant, researchers said here. But the very success of the combination of daclatasvir and sofosbuvir (Sovaldi) in an open-label...
With Merck & Co. poised to disrupt competitors with new hepatitis C drugs, rivals are scrambling to get ahead the best way they can figure: make a medicine that works faster. It’s high stakes for companies like Gilead Sciences Inc., which earned more than...
Results of trials of antivirals to treat hepatitis C infections are dominating the proceedings at the 2015 International Liver Congress in Vienna, Austria. In a presentation today, Fred Poordad, MD, clinical professor of medicine at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San...
The use of interferon to treat hepatitis C infections has fallen out of favor with the advent of new antivirals and drug combinations that have fewer side effects. But in a study presented today at the International Liver Congress in Vienna, Austria, researchers from...
VIENNA — Patients with cirrhosis as well as genotype 1 and genotype 3 HCV responded favorably to 8 weeks of treatment with a novel grazoprevir and elbasvir-based combination regimen, according to findings presented at the 2015 International Liver Congress. Fred Poordad, MD, of the...
VIENNA — Twenty-four weeks of treatment with Harvoni yielded a 12-week sustained virologic response rate higher than 70% in a cohort of patients who had failed previous therapies, according to data presented at the 2015 International Liver Congress. Eric J. Lawitz, MD, of the...
UT Health Science Center San Antonio doctor presents results of daclatasvir regimen SAN ANTONIO (April 30 2015) — A number of new, highly effective oral treatments for various types of hepatitis C have been approved in the past few years. However, two groups who...
Merck & Co. said Friday that its experimental drug combination for treating chronic hepatitis C patients demonstrated a 95% effective rate in a late-stage study. The study combined grazoprevir and elbasvir in a once-daily tablet and was administered to previously untreated patients, some of...
A number of new, highly effective oral treatments for various types of hepatitis C have been approved in the past few years. However, two groups who have not benefitted from the new treatments are patients with hepatitis C who have advanced liver disease and...
Boston—Can treatment of hepatitis C infection with new direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) be shortened to less than 12 weeks? Interim results from a recent trial suggest treatment durations of eight or even four weeks may be possible with the right combination of drugs. Shortened regimens...
Following this program, participants should be better able to: Use in a clinical setting important findings from key studies on CHC diagnosis and treatment presented at AASLD 2014 Employ current treatment protocols for CHC in clinical practice, including the studies and data presented at AASLD 2014, to improve...
In a phase 2a clinical trial, treatment with beclabuvir and a combination of pegylated interferon alfa-2a and ribavirin was well tolerated among patients with hepatitis C virus genotype 1 infection, according to study data. Researchers, including Eric J. Lawitz, MD, of The Texas Liver...
Multidrug Regimen Seen Challenging Recently Approved Drugs from Gilead Sciences U.S. regulators on Friday approved AbbVie Inc.’s new multidrug regimen for hepatitis C, the latest in a wave of new medicines that is transforming treatment of the liver disease. The U.S. Food and Drug...
– In Phase 3 clinical trials, VIEKIRA PAK cured 95-100 percent of hepatitis C patients, with less than 2 percent of patients experiencing virological failure – Tolerability profile shows more than 98 percent of patients completed a full course of therapy – All-oral interferon-free...
It’s becoming health threat at young age When David Martinez was diagnosed with advanced cirrhosis of the liver, he was surprised and confused. “I thought cirrhosis came from drinking,” said Martinez, 50, a cable repair technician. “I asked the doctor, ‘Why is it that...
Two studies suggest drugs could yield high cure rates. A new study suggests that some subgroups of patients with hepatitis C (HCV) infection can achieve sustained virologic responses (SVR) in as short as 4 weeks using an aggressive, investigational three-drug regimen, researchers reported here....
Can outcomes be sustained with shorter regimens? A new study suggests that some subgroups of patients with hepatitis C virus infectioncan achieve sustained virologic responses (SVR) in as short as 4 weeks using an aggressive, investigational three-drug regimen, researchers reported here. In the 4-week...
S. Texas Latinos have nation’s highest rate Experts are sounding the alarm on liver cancer, which has reached epidemic levels in South Texas, likely because of the region’s high rates of obesity, diabetes and drinking. Rates of hepatocellular carcinoma, the most common type of...
We got an overview on this important session at The Liver Meeting® 2014 which aims to investigate the latest on clinical issues commonly seen in practice. Diagnostic strategies and approaches to management will be reviewed to provide state-of-the-art guidelines, particularly for diagnostic dilemmas. AASLD...
A San Antonio doctor has published a cure for hepatitis C, one of the most painful, and expensive, diseases in the world, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports. Dr. Eric Lawitz, who is with the U.T. Health Science Center at San Antonio and the Texas...
San Antonio researcher leads national study that included hard-to-treat patients SAN ANTONIO ― Researchers from The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, the Texas Liver Institute and other institutions have identified a combination of pills that cures 9 of 10 hepatitis...
Miami, Florida — New data offers hope to liver transplant patients infected with the hepatitis C virus. This virus may lead to liver destruction and cancer in up to 40% of the 5 million Americans infected with the virus. The only cure is liver transplantation for...
A new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine and presented at the International Liver Congress highlights the use of a multitargeted therapy that combines the drug ABT-450 with ritonavir, ombitasvir, and dasabuyir in patients diagnosed with cirrhosis and genotype 1 hepatitis virus...
A San Antonio researcher has announced that he has found a cure for Hepatitis C. In the first-of-its-kind study dedicated to patients with Hepatitis C and cirrhosis of the liver, Dr. Fred Poordad announced to the International Liver Congress in London over the weekend...
Multitargeted therapy of ABT-450 with ritonavir, ombitasvir and dasabuvir yielded strong response rates with few discontinuations among patients with cirrhosis and hepatitis C genotype 1 treated for 12 or 24 weeks, according to findings presented here. HCV Next Editorial Board member Fred Poordad, MD,...
A drug combination with striking efficacy in relatively healthy hepatitis C (HCV) patients had similar outcomes in patients with compensated cirrhosis, a researcher said. In an open-label phase III trial, more than 91% of cirrhotic patients cleared the virus despite advanced disease, according to...
An international study including researchers from University of Texas Medicine San Antonio and Texas Liver Institute announced significant success in the treatment of hepatitis C infection in patients with liver cirrhosis. More than 90% of patients treated for 12 weeks with an investigational oral therapy...
Oral combination proves safe for patients who could not have interferon therapy SAN ANTONIO, Texas — A novel 12 week regimen of pills has cured more than 90% of hepatitis C patients with cirrhosis of the liver. Cirrhosis is the advanced stage of hepatitis...
An experimental trial of two drugs in one pill had a high cure rate for patients infected with hepatitis C. A new drug combination has effectively cured hepatitis C in 97 of the first 100 people, according to clinical trial results published today in...
