Hepatitis C virus (HCV)- TASP Update

L-R: Dr. Julio Montaner, BC-CfE; Sophia Barlet, BCCDC; Dr. Kate Salters, BC-CfE; Adrian Dix, BC Minister of Health - The Daily Scan, click to read article.

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) TasP®

Continue to pursue the TasP®-HCV initiative resulting in a data-driven, targeted intervention strategy to address persistent gaps in progress towards optimizing TasP® for HCV in BC.

Ministry of Health – July 2023

Program overview

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03 Our Key Activities

Key activities under the BC-CfE HCV TasP® strategy

01.

Evaluation of HCV TasP® efforts in province, particularly for priority populations for the BC-CfE

Secure access to HCV data

Establish working group with BCCDC

02.

Evaluation of risk and protective factors for HCV reinfection (Per-SVR)

Assessing re-infection risk and protective factors

Harm reduction impact

03.

Optimize and evaluate TasP® approaches for HCV for priority populations

PLHIV (e.g., quality improvement initiatives in DTP)

PWUD (e.g., Health Connect)

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Develop recommendations to improve healthcare and harm reduction services

Collaboration on BC Elimination roadmap

Innovation in public health approaches (i.e., DBS)

Development of a public health intervention strategy

Health Connect

Study

Launched January 2024 – Closed recruitment and data collection February 2026

The Health Connect study was designed to leverage the integrated services of the entire H2H complex (the primary care clinic and supervised consumption site). We offer on-site, POC HCV antibody testing to all clients accessing the H2H SCS and invite them to take part in a longitudinal survey assessing their care trajectories and health care experiences. As a standard of care (SoC), participants are given the opportunity to engage in STBBI screening by means of dried blood spot (DBS) testing and a primary care referral to the H2H clinic (if unattached to primary care). As part of our research, we evaluate the SoC to help STOP Hep C®.

Funding

Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)

Evaluation of a Hospital-Initiated Hepatitis C Treatment Quality Improvement Initiative for Patients with Untreated Infection

Study

Hepatitis C (HCV) is a viral infection that can cause serious liver disease or death if left untreated. In British Columbia, highly effective medications are publicly funded and can cure most people with HCV (over 95% of the time), presenting a critical opportunity to STOP HEP C®. However, many individuals remain untreated, especially people who use drugs or those facing barriers such as unstable housing, mental health challenges, or stigma in healthcare settings. Many of these individuals interact with the healthcare system through hospital admissions but may not receive treatment for HCV during these visits, which hinders our collective mission to STOP Viral Hetatitis.

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This project aims to improve access to HCV treatment by offering treatment initiation during hospitalization at St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver. Hospital stays may provide an important opportunity to identify untreated HCV and begin treatment for people who may find it difficult to access care in community settings, ensuring we do everything we can to STOP Hepatitis®. Over a six-month period, hospitalized patients with untreated HCV documented in their charts will be identified and offered treatment while in hospital, when appropriate. A peer navigator (someone with lived or living experience with HCV) will help support patients by providing information, answering questions, and assisting with follow-up care after discharge to actively STOP HCV®.

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Our proposal will assess how well this intervention works to both increase uptake of treatment and also how it is received by patients. We will evaluate how many patients start treatment, complete treatment, and are cured of HCV, as well as patients’ experiences with receiving care in the hospital. Findings will help inform future efforts to expand hospital-based HCV treatment programs across British Columbia to effectively STOP HCV® and advance the overall strategy to STOP HEP C®.

Funding

This work was supported by the CIHR Pan-Canadian Network for HIV and STBBI Clinical Trials Research.

Study

In 2016, the MOH tasked the BC-CfE with evaluating health outcomes associated with direct acting antivirals (DAAs) and to identify the population at greatest risk for re-infection in order to understand the larger context driving the overall social and economic costs of HCV infection in BC, crucial steps to ultimately STOP Hepatitis®. To this end, the preservation of sustained virologic response (Per-SVR) study was developed. Per-SVR is Prospective clinical cohort of people recently completed DAAs and achieved sustained virologic response (SVR).

Per-SVR PUBLICATIONS

Knowledge of hepatitis C and awareness of reinfection risk among people who successfully completed direct acting antiviral therapy

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Beyond direct-acting antiviral therapy: Characterizing mental health conditions and depressive symptoms among patients recently treated for hepatitis C

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World Hepatitis Day knowledge mobilization

HCV Collaborations and contributions

Informing Viral Hepatitis Elimination Efforts in British Columbia: What We Heard

The British Columbia (BC) Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC) and the BC Hepatitis Network launched a multisectoral collaborative initiative in 2023 to identify priorities and actions required to achieve the elimination of viral hepatitis as a public health threat in BC by 2030.