ACT prison needle exchange on hold Australia – Hopes of the first Australian prisonbased needle-exchange program to be introduced this year, have been dashed. The $128 million Alexander Maconochie Centre in the ACT will open later this year, with a focus on rehabilitation. But after four years of debate, ACT Government ministers have stepped back from introducing a needle-exchange program, claiming more research is needed. Prison needle-exchange programs have been supported by public health professionals and the Royal Australasian College of Physicians, and recommended by the Australian National Council on Drugs. ACT Health minister Ms Katy Gallagher told the ABC, “We’re certainly not taking it off the table, but we’re saying give us 12 to 18 months, come back to government with your health researchers’ own data around our own prison population, their health needs ... and based on that we will make our decision.” Health workers will be tasked with collecting data on drug use and infections among prison inmates. Hep C infection rates for men in NSW prisons have been estimated at about 40%, and for women prisoners at about 60%. This compares with the one-percent rate of infection in the general population. Needle-exchange schemes have been successfully used in Canada and Spain, but prison officer unions in Australia have resisted the idea, warning that prisoner access to needles presents a potential safety threat.
news Anti-cholesterol drug could help fight hep C USA – A commonly prescribed anti-cholesterol drug holds hope for hep C patients, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Centre researchers have found. Dr Ted Bader, a gastroenterologist and staff physician at the Oklahoma City VA Medical Centre, studied the effect of fluvastatin on US war veterans with the liver disease, most of whom didn’t respond to the standard anti-viral treatment. In the study, Bader treated 31 veterans at the VA Medical Centre with fluvastatin, which slows the body’s production of cholesterol. The drug has been on the market since 1993. When given to study participants daily for two to 12 weeks, it lowered the level of the virus in their blood six-fold in two out of three patients. Half the patients showed a reduction in the virus in their blood within a month. Although fluvastatin alone doesn’t eliminate the virus, it may improve the recovery chances of those who don’t respond to standard therapy. Bader’s findings appear in the American Journal of Gastroenterology. He is now recruiting people in a phase II trial to be treated with fluvastatin and the standard hep C drugs. Because fluvastatin doesn’t rid the body of the virus, the other drugs are needed. Despite needing further testing and FDA approval, fluvastatin still could be available much sooner than other drugs currently under research and development, Bader said. • Abridged from The Oklahoman, 11 April 08, via http://newsok.com
• Abridged from Aust Doc, 23 Mar 08. Also see p28. ED
The Hep C Review
Ed61
June 2008
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