Cold season is here and sometimes the flu vaccine and washing our hands just aren’t enough to keep colds at bay. If you do get sick, make sure the over-the-counter (OTC) medication you take doesn’t damage your liver while it’s relieving your cold symptoms
Acetaminophen (brand name Tylenol) is the most popular painkiller in the United States. (In other parts of the world it is known as Paracetamol.) Not only is it found in the 8 billion acetaminophen pills Americans take each year to reduce aches and pains, it’s also found in cough and congestion medications. When we have hepatitis B, we need to be careful we don’t unintentionally overdose when we take acetaminophen pills and cough or sinus medications. Continue reading "It’s Flu Season: Protect Your Liver from Unintentional Acetaminophen (Tylenol) Overdose"→
Image courtesy of Serge Bertasius Photography at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
In 2015, doctors continued to unlock the mysteries of hepatitis B and uncovered promising new treatments. Armed with new information, here are 10 things we can do in 2016 to safeguard our health and help prevent the spread of hepatitis B.
Get monitored regularly. No one likes a blood draw or to be reminded they have hepatitis B, but it’s important that you’re tested annually or more often if you have a high viral load and/or signs of liver damage. There’s no cure yet, but there are effective treatment options with more in the pipeline. So be brave, protect your health, and go to the lab for a blood test.
If you’ve been prescribed an antiviral, don’t forget to take it. Taking a pill every day is tedious and it’s tempting to skip it, but failing to take your daily antiviral reduces its effectiveness and can lead to drug resistance. The hepatitis B virus is a master at mutating to escape whatever is attacking it. Forgetting to take your daily pill can lead to an uptick in your viral load and liver damage. Stay strong, take your daily pill, and keep that virus undetectable.
Face it, antivirals are a long-term commitment. Until a cure is developed, antivirals—either tenofovir (Viread) or entecavir (Baraclude)—are the best treatment to quickly reduce both viral load (HBV DNA) and liver damage. But they work for only as long as we take them, and once we start, we are usually committed to years of treatment. Quitting antivirals before we’ve achieved undetectable viral load and lost the hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) often results in a resurgence of both viral load and liver damage. Antivirals are a long-term treatment that help prolong our lives.
Demand to be screened for liver cancer. Some experts say current medical guidelines that recommend when we should be screened for liver cancer don’t go far enough to protect us. So take charge of your health and ask for a liver cancer screen, which includes a semi-annual blood test and an ultrasound. Hepatitis B-infected Asian men (or of Asian descent) over age 40 years and Asian women over age 50 years, patients with a family history of liver cancer, patients with cirrhosis, and Africans over the age of 20 should all be screened. Think you’re not at risk for cancer because you take antivirals? Think again. Antivirals help reduce liver damage, but if you’ve had cirrhosis or are older, the risk of liver cancer remains.
If someone promises a new cure or treatment that sounds too good to be true….it probably is. In our search to be rid of hepatitis B, we may be tempted to yield to clever marketing and try a supplement that promises to cure us. But first, do your homework and practice precaution. To check out an herbal supplement, visit the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health’s website to see what scientific evidence exists for a supplement and talk to your doctor. There is no magic bullet that will cure hepatitis B. Experts hope to find one soon, but for now be patient and stay skeptical. If you want to safeguard your health, eat healthy foods and avoid alcohol and cigarettes.
Experts say a cure is coming … so stay informed about new drug developments and clinical trials. There is lots happening on the research front. To find out what drugs are in the development pipeline, visit the Hepatitis B Foundation’s Drug Watch page for the latest news. You can also find out if you qualify for a clinical trial. Expensive blood work, treatment medications, and doctor’s visits are usually free-of-charge for those accepted into a study. The foundation features a list of hepatitis B-related clinical trials that are recruiting patients in the U.S. and around the world at its Clinical Trials page. You could become part of the cure.
Pregnant with hepatitis B? Get your viral load tested and ask your doctor about antivirals. In November, the American Association for the Study of Liver Disease (AASLD) for the first time recommended that pregnant women with viral loads (HBV DNA) higher than 200,000 IU/mL (or 1 million copies/mL) receive an antiviral (either tenofovir or telbivudine) starting at their 28th week of pregnancy. The antivirals won’t hurt you or your baby and will reduce the risk that your baby will be infected with hepatitis B to nearly zero, as long as your baby gets the first dose of the hepatitis B vaccine and a dose of HBIG (hepatitis B antibodies) within 12 hours of birth.
Fight discrimination against hepatitis B and know your rights. Hepatitis B should never be a barrier to the education or job you want. Sadly, ignorance and stigma remains in the U.S. and abroad. It depends on us, our friends, and our family, to stand up and fight for our civil rights. We can’t back down. If we don’t fight, who will?
Practice safe sex and never re-use needles. Today, in some areas of the U.S., hepatitis B is increasing—even though a safe and effective vaccine exists. Unfortunately, not everyone is immunized and the infection is still getting transmitted sexually. In the midst of America’s heroin epidemic, it’s also spreading when syringes are re-used and shared. Do you want to end hepatitis B? Make sure your friends and family members know how to prevent sexually-transmitted infections (even if those conversations are challenging, their lives may depend on it) and support needle exchange programs in your region and state. Countless studies show that when needle exchange programs are available, HIV, hepatitis B and C rates decline! It saves lives and healthcare dollars!
Be brave, disclose, and get your friends, family, and lovers screened for hepatitis B and vaccinated. Yes, it will be one of the hardest conversations you will ever have, but if you are infected with hepatitis B, you need to disclose your infection to people who may be at risk. If you just discovered you have chronic hepatitis B, which you may have contracted at birth, you need to tell your siblings and your mother and get them screened and immunized if needed. Dating someone, and about to take the next step? You need to disclose ahead of time and give them information and choices. It builds trust and it’s the right thing to do. You would want the same for yourself.
This year’s HEP DART conference brought together liver specialists and researchers from around the world to review and brainstorm about the latest research to find a cure for hepatitis B.
Biopharmaceutical companies presented data that showed their cutting-edge treatments, which use micro-RNAs and other innovative approaches to reduce the virus, appear promising. Much of this research, however, is in early, pre-clinical stages and focuses on laboratory-grown liver cells or laboratory animals, though a few are in Phase I and Phase II trials.
Joan Block, co-founder and executive director of the Hepatitis B Foundation, reported the following news in hepatitis B research from the conference, which was held in Hawaii from Dec. 6-10.
HepDart 2015 marks the 20th anniversary of this conference, and about 600 attendees from 20 countries attended. In opening remarks, Dr. Patrick Marcellin of France noted that the cure for hepatitis C is a huge medical breakthrough, now, he noted we are faced with finding a cure for hepatitis B.
This year’s HepDart meeting included nearly two days devoted to hepatitis B drug development—which shows the new momentum around finding a cure hepatitis B by the scientific community. During previous HepDart meetings, there was almost no discussion about new hepatitis B treatment. But this year, there are more than five companies presenting new hepatitis B drug findings, Block reported.
Researchers at the conference continued to lament the lack of resources spent to research and develop a cure for hepatitis B. They noted the U.S. government has spent $17.5 billion treating HIV. A fraction of that has been spent on finding cures for hepatitis B and C, which infects up to 6 million Americans.
Despite the lack of financial investment in finding a cure, Joan Block reports that the consensus at the conference is that a cure is indeed possible. Despite barriers to achieving a cure because of the complexity of the hepatitis B virus, “the feeling is that there are many targets in the life cycle of the virus and that a combination of a direct-acting antiviral along with an immunomodulator (to boost the immune system) will be the most likely route to success,” she reported.
In the short term, experts may be looking at a “functional” cure. For example, some of the new experimental drugs appear to increase the chances of clearing the hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) with a finite duration of treatment. “Although this wouldn’t take care of (lingering) cccDNA or viral integration into liver cells, it would be a significant advance in treatment,” she said.
Day 2 of HepDart focused on targets within the virus, new therapies and possible cures. Experts explored whether any of the new drugs could produce a functional cure (similar to a resolved hepatitis B infection with loss of surface antigen) versus producing a complete cure that totally eradicates the virus from the liver (including cccDNA). Loss of cccDNA is referred to as the holy grail of the HBV cure.
“The parsing of the word ‘cure’ is frustrating to patient advocates,” she reported, “but the feeling is that the hepatitis B virus life cycle is very complex so an incremental or functional approach might be most feasible.
“Everyone wants a complete cure, including the scientists working on hepatitis B,” she noted, “however, a functional cure might be the most realistic goal in the next 10 years.”
A functional cure means patients will have to take one of the new drugs for only a limited period of time–compared to the current long-term reliance on antivirals that patients take in order to keep their viral loads down and prevent liver damage.
The downside of a functional cure is the potential for reactivation if a person, later in life, needs to take immune-suppressing drugs, such as chemotherapy, to fight cancer. However, this can be managed with antivirals if necessary. This is a similar situation to those who spontaneously recover from an infection.
To underscore the complexity of finding a cure, the image below shows the different targets in the hepatitis B virus life cycle that companies are examining to find a cure.
There are many promising targets that are being pursued by scientists in academia, NIH, biotech companies and the Hepatitis B Foundation. At this point, the small interfering RNA (siRNA) technology is most advanced. However there are compounds in the pipeline for each category (see below), which is very exciting. Please refer to the Hepatitis B Foundation’s Drug Watch Page for complete list of drugs in development.
“The research work continues,” Joan Block reported, “and there is reason for optimism.”
Dr. Marion Peters – HepDart 2015
The Hepatitis B Foundation president, Dr. Tim Block chaired a special session at HepDART to discuss what new endpoints will be needed to evaluate the efficacy of the new drugs coming down the pipeline. This will include immunological, virologic, and clinical endpoints for both a functional cure and complete cure. The clinical endpoint goals might differ based on the phase (immune tolerant, immune active and inactive phase) the patient is in at the time of treatment with these newer agents.
HBF president, Dr. Tim Block
Late breaking update from HepDART!
Arrowhead’s hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg)-lowering drug (ARC 520) looks promising according to the company’s presentation at HepDart. A single injection of the siRNA first in class type drug lowered HBsAg 10-fold in hepatitis B “e” antigen (HBeAg) positive people. The study was small (a few individuals) but impressive.
Arrowhead’s ARC 520 may also be telling us something about chronic HBeAg-positive hepatitis B versus HBeAg-negative hepatitis B. They suggest that the amount of HBsAg in the blood of people with HBeAg-negative hepatitis B may come from “integrated” hepatitis B in the liver, not from “cccDNA.” This has profound implications for treatment.
Novira’s oral drug is a first-in-class capisd inhibitor and was able to lower HBV DNA levels by as much as 100-fold in the small number of people in the initial human trial, according to their presentation at HepDart. Novira was recently acquired by the pharma giant J&J.
“Excitement is really building as the first new hepatitis B drugs come into the clinic,” said Joan Block.
Image courtesy of stockimages at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
When we have chronic hepatitis B, knowing our family medical history can give us an inside edge to fight this infection.
Hepatitis B is an infection that often runs in families, and knowing how our parents or grandparents handled this liver disease can give us insider information about our own genetic prospects with hepatitis B.
With Veterans Day comes reports about the lack of adequate mental health care for men and women returning from war. There is another, invisible health issue threatening veterans of all ages–hepatitis B.
Few veterans have ever been screened or treated for hepatitis B though their infection rate is four-times the national average.
The percentage of veterans infected with hepatitis B may actually be higher, but no one knows. Only 15 percent of U.S. veterans have ever been screened for hepatitis B. Among the few screened and diagnosed with chronic hepatitis B, only 25 percent have received antiviral treatment and only 13 percent have been screened for liver cancer. Continue reading "The Veterans Administration Ignores an Enemy on the Homefront: Hepatitis B"→
Image by worradmu, courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net.
For more than 20 years, I have accompanied my daughter to her annual hepatitis B check-up with her liver specialist. She is 22 and does not need me to come, but I always go out of habit and love.
After the appointment, we sit eating lunch and I talk about how lucky she is that her liver has been healthy and her viral load undetectable for many years. Recently, she started testing negative for the hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg). However, she has never developed hepatitis B surface antibodies. Her immune system has cleaned house, but has lacked the power to produce enough surface antibodies to show up on lab tests and declare her free of infection.
Image courtesy of digitalart at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
With the cost of health care and prescription drugs soaring, it’s important to choose health insurance carefully when you take hepatitis B medications and need frequent check-ups and lab tests.
In the next two months, Medicare recipients, people who get insurance through their jobs and consumers buying coverage through the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) will be selecting insurance plans during open enrollment.
If you take antivirals or interferon and have frequent lab tests and doctor visits, it’s important that you select the plan that:
Has your specialist or primary care doctor and lab in its network,
And offers the lowest copay for the drugs you need.
We who live with hepatitis B know that avoiding alcohol and cigarettes go a long way toward reducing our risk of liver cancer. But there are new threats emerging. Researchers are finding that obesity, diabetes and developing fatty liver from unhealthy food and a sedentary lifestyle can be just as dangerous to our livers.
If you have chronic hepatitis and are obese with a fatty liver, your liver cancer risk increases 1.5 to 4.5 times
And, if you have hepatitis B and diabetes, your liver cancer risk climbs two- to three-fold.
This is a sobering realization that our lifestyle and our weight matter a lot when it comes to how long we will live. We may like to think we won’t develop liver cancer because our viral load is low or our liver tests don’t show any damage, but sitting all day and over-eating are just as dangerous. Continue reading "Want to Avoid Liver Cancer? There Are Things You Can Control"→
Image courtesy of David Castillo Dominici at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
October is Liver Cancer Awareness Month. It may be a sleeper of a event when compared to other health campaigns, but for us who live with viral hepatitis, it’s an uncomfortable but critical reminder of the importance of monitoring our liver health to prevent cancer.
Viral hepatitis, especially B and C, are viral infections that can cause liver cancer (also called hepatocellular carcinoma or HCC.) Researchers are still studying why some people are more prone to liver cancer, but we who live with chronic hepatitis B or C have a 25 to 40 percent lifetime risk of developing liver cancer. The infection, which hijacks our liver cells to manufacture more virus, causes inflammation, scarring and even cancer as the liver cells grow out of control.
