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Patients have mixed feelings about hepatitis drugs Comment By Vickie Aldous Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By Vickie Aldous Mail Tribune Posted Oct. 4, 2015 at 12:01 AM By Vickie Aldous Mail Tribune Posted Oct. 4, 2015 at 12:01 AM » Social News Patients who have coped for years with hepatitis C have had mixed reactions to new drugs that can cure the disease, from elation about the treatment to shock about the price. One Southern Oregon woman who asked not to be named said she went through a six-month course of older medication, but suffered side effects such as internal bleeding that required her to be hospitalized and given blood transfusions. The grueling treatment cleared her body of the virus, but three months later, the virus reemerged. In March 2014, she started a three-month course of Sovaldi, a new medication which produced no side effects and wiped the virus from her body. The virus has not returned. "I'm cured of hepatitis C," said the woman, who lived in Ashland at the time she took Sovaldi. She has since moved to Brookings. The woman said the Sovaldi cost $85,000. Medicare and her supplemental insurance policy together covered $75,000 of the cost. Her doctor helped her get $10,500 from the Patient Access Network, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping people with chronic or life-threatening diseases for whom costs limit access to critical treatments. "It was worth all the money you have to pay to get it. It's a wonder drug," said the woman, who had hepatitis C for 30 years. "If there are people thinking of getting a second mortgage to pay for it, it's worth it." She said she did not have liver damage before starting Sovaldi and now no longer fears developing complications of hepatitis C, which can include scarring of the liver, liver cancer and death. A Talent woman with hepatitis C was excited when she heard there was a new pill that could cure her of the disease without the harsh side effects of less effective medications of the past. Then her doctor told her the cost for a 12-week course of treatment was $86,000 — or about $1,000 per pill. "I almost choked," recalled the woman, who asked that her name not be used. "There's no medication in the world that has to cost $1,000 a pill. No one can convince me of that." Because she is a senior citizen, the woman is on Medicare. Her doctor told her she should buy a supplemental insurance policy to help cover the high out-of-pocket costs of Harvoni, the breakthrough medication he recommended she take to treat her hepatitis C. "He told me to get supplemental coverage in order and to come back," she said. However, the woman has decided not to take Harvoni. She distrusts pharmaceutical companies and wants to wait on long-term studies to show that the new medication permanently clears the hepatitis C virus from people's bodies. People who take the new medications are considered cured if there is no detectable hepatitis C virus in their bodies three months after they finish treatment. The Talent woman said she has some liver damage, with scarring to the corner of her liver. Otherwise she is healthy and experiencing no symptoms. She has decided to try and stay healthy through natural methods such as meditation and a healthy diet. The woman from Brookings who was cured of hepatitis C said she jumped at the chance to take Sovaldi. For people who can finance the treatment, it can save their lives, she said. "It was wonderful," she said. Staff reporter Vickie Aldous can be reached at 541-776-4486 or [email protected] . Follow her at www.twitter.com/VickieAldous . By Vickie Aldous Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By Vickie Aldous Mail Tribune Posted Oct. 4, 2015 at 12:01 AM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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