Even if a treatment with 100% efficacy is ultimately developed, “what is unclear at this stage is whether HCV testing and treatment will penetrate to the prisons, drug-treatment centres, and other venues where many HCV infected individuals are found and unknowingly harbour the virus,” he wrote.
DAVID L. THOMAS, M.D., is professor at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. This editorial was published online in the Lancet (2010 Oct. 15 [doi:10.1016/50140-6736(10)61497-3]). He has received drugs for phase IV studies with Merck & Co. and Gilead Sciences Inc., and has received an honorarium from Merck and payment for development of educational materials from companies who in turn receive support from drug companies.