Location:
The Kirby Institute Level 6 Seminar Room Wallace Wurth Building UNSW Australia Sydney NSW 2052
Open to
All
Contact for enquiries
Rata Joseph +61 (0)2 9385 0900 rjoseph@kirby.unsw.edu.au
The Kirby Institute is pleased to present:
Associate Professor Jason Grebely - Can hepatitis C virus be eradicated in people who inject drugs?
Tuesday 17th February 2015
1pm - 2pm
Abstract: People who inject drugs (PWID) represent the majority of new and existing cases of HCV infections in many high-income countries and HCV-related disease burden continues to rise. There are compelling data demonstrating that with the appropriate programs, treatment for HCV infection among PWID is successful, with responses to therapy similar those observed in large randomized controlled trials in non-PWID. However, assessment and treatment for HCV infection lags far behind the numbers who could benefit from therapy, related to systems-, provider- and patient-related barriers to care. The approaching era of interferon-free directly acting antiviral therapy has the potential to provide one of the great advances in clinical medicine. Simple, tolerable and highly effective therapy will likely address many of these barriers, thereby enhancing the numbers of PWID cured of HCV infection. This presentation will consider why we should strive for the elimination of HCV infection among PWID, whether elimination of HCV infection among PWID is feasible, the potential role of HCV treatment as prevention in achieving elimination among PWID, components that would be needed to achieve elimination of HCV infection in PWID, and potential settings and strategies required to establish programs targeted towards elimination of HCV infection among PWID.
Biography: Jason's training and research is based in the field of epidemiology, with a specific focus on clinical epidemiology. Jason has a BSc in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and a PhD in Pharmacology and Therapeutics, both from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. He completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship in Clinical Epidemiology at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, under the supervision of Gregory Dore, where he now remains as a Senior Lecturer. Jason is also a National Health and Medical Research Council Career Development Fellow.