629 Uptake of Hepatitis C Screening and Treatment Among Active Drug Users in Amsterdam: Results of the Dutch-C Project (Drug Users Treatment for Chronic Hepatitis C)

HCV treatment uptake in people who have injected drugs — observations in a large cohort that received addiction treatment 1970–1984

“…A large proportion will now have developed cirrhosis and untreated will be at risk of developing ESLD or HCC during the coming years. An increased incidence of ESLD and HCC can be avoided through increased treatment uptake [6,20,33], which would also reduce the pool of HCV in the PWID population and thus prevent new cases [34][35][36]. As several new DAAs will get approval in the near future, an urgent task will be to involve this population of middle-aged former and current PWID in treatment.…”

“…Such studies are usually associated with higher treatment uptake and demonstrate feasibility of treatment, even in people who are currently injecting drugs [5,6,26,27].…”

“…Until recently, all HCV treatment has been based on interferon, implying a complicated treatment regimen with frequent and sometimes serious side effects. Despite this, several studies have demonstrated high treatment efficacy in PWID [4][5][6]. However, studies conducted in North America and Australia have documented low treatment uptake [7,8] in this group.…”

A quasi-experimental evaluation of dried blood spot testing through community pharmacies in the Tayside region of Scotland

“…Different settings have been used to increase the uptake of testing and treatment including testing from methadone maintenance services28 in city homeless shelters22 and mental health sites 25. Little work has used the daily interaction with community pharmacists to increase testing, follow-up and treatment adherence.…”

50 Is Adding HCV Screening to the Antenatal National Screening Program in Amsterdam, the Netherlands Cost-Effective?

“…Blood donors and HIV positives are routinely screened for HCV, but there is no universal screening policy for HCV that targets the general population. In the past decade, several national and regional HCV (pilot) screening campaigns have been conducted in the Netherlands for specific risk groups, such as active drug users participating in harmreduction programmes [4,5] as well as others hidden in the general population (e.g. those who have had a blood transfusion or injected drugs one time in the remote past).…”