I guess I’m a little behind the 8 ball on this one, but I just found out that FDA approved home tests to detect HCV are available. Would anybody like to comment on this? Are they accurate? Isn’t it cheaper just to go to your own doctor for the test? One test I saw cost $58. How much does it cost to get a test from your own doctor? And you could get one for free if you give blood at the American Red Cross.

Since not enough livers from cadavers are available, living donors have stepped up and filled the need. Here is an excerpt from the referenced article:

“The Rise in Living Donors

Just over a decade ago, this gift of life between two close friends would have been impossible. Partial organ transplants between adults were unheard of: People’s immune systems typically rejected organs from nonrelatives, and doctors, for the most part, considered such operations not only risky but unethical. But today, Michael could be the poster boy for a trend that’s changing the course of transplant medicine in the United States. There are more living donors today than deceased ones. And many of the living donors are unrelated to the patient in need; sometimes they don’t even know them.

“Illustrating the altruistic nature of family, friends and even strangers, living donation rates have steadily increased. This increase has helped bring awareness to the critical shortage of organs.” says Annie Moore, spokesperson for the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), the nation’s organ clearinghouse that matches donors to recipients. Consider the numbers: There were 6,618 live donors in 2002, a 230% increase over 1989, according to UNOS. By comparison, there were 6187 deceased donors, people who have died, often in the prime of life in an accident. Living kidney donors now account for nearly 52% of all kidney donors and the number of living donor liver transplants has doubled since 1999, according to UNOS.

Clearly attitudes are changing. A survey in 2000 by the National Kidney Foundation showed that 90% of Americans say they would consider donating a kidney to a family member while alive. That same survey reported that one in four Americans would consider donating a kidney to a stranger. Indeed, UNOS reports that living donors unrelated to the patients increased tenfold between 1992 and 2001.”

To read the entire article see:

http://men.webmd.com/features/between-friends-living-donors

You’ve heard of alcohol free beer, right? Well, here are some basically alcohol free wines with cocktail recipes so you can enjoy your parties without jeopardizing your liver. Thanks Pam!

http://www.frewines.com/advice/recipes.html

Here’s an interesting blog to follow. This first entry starts with a history of  HCV discovery and treatment. Keep an eye on this one.

http://caps.fool.com/Blogs/ViewPost.aspx?bpid=349095&t=01007366137242330765

We would like to start a “Get Tested” campaign for HCV. If you know of any groups that have used successful methods for this purpose or know of any materials like posters, videos etc. that we could use, please let us know. Thanks.

Locteron is a controlled release interferon alpha that is administered every 2 weeks and has a better side effect  profile than currently available Pegasys (R)  and PEG-Intron .

http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Biolex-Announces-Locteron-Phase-2b-Interim-Results-Hepatitis-C-Accepted

The approval of Zalpin,  another interferon, is awaited later this year. The advantage of this drug is that it would be injected once every two weeks instead of once a week and this would cut down on injection related side effects.

http://in.reuters.com/article/businessNews/idINIndia-46039720100209

More information on Zalbin:

http://www.hgsi.com/albuferona-albinterferon-alfa-2b.html

Debio 025 is the first in a new class of drugs called cyclophilin inhibitors which could become part of the future standard of care for the disease.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/novartis-licenses-hepatitis-c-drug-2010-02-09

“MIT and Rockefeller University have successfully grown hepatitis C viruses in otherwise healthy liver cells.”

http://freecollege.com/2010/02/01/engineering-a-new-way-to-study-hepatitis-c/

http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2010/983/fe1.htm