Journal of Liver

Economic Evaluation in Health and Medicine

3^rd World Congress on Hepatitis and Liver Diseases

October 10-12, 2016 Dubai, UAE

Nermeen Nabil Ashoush

The British University in Egypt, Egypt

Scientific Tracks Abstracts: J Liver

Abstract:

Hepatitis C is a chronic health problem affecting approximately 180 million people worldwide. Chronic hepatitis C is one of the main causes of end-stage liver disease and hepatocellular carcinoma that have a clinical and economic burden on hepatitis C virus (HCV) patients. Over the past few years, new medicines for HCV infection have begun to transform the treatment landscape; the development of new regimens involving direct acting antivirals (DAAs) have been so successful that disease experts are heralding an era where all HCV patients of all genotypes can be cured, even debating whether eradication is possible. These novel agents seem to facilitate the use of shortened courses of combination interferon-free therapy, which are associated with high (>95%) sustained response rates and relatively few toxicities. These regimens have also been successful in patients who were previously difficult to treat, including those with cirrhosis. The main drawback of these new agents is the huge price tag, which will make treatment out of reach for people in the developed and developing world. Understanding the balance between costs and efficacy is critical to making decisions about the optimal use of these new agents, especially for health-care systems constrained by rising costs. Our goal for this workshop is to facilitate an understanding of the importance of health economics and pharmacoeconomics evaluations in guiding policy decisions about the use of newly approved drugs as well as future therapies.

Biography :

Nermeen Nabil Ashoush has completed her PhD in 2015 from Ain Shams University in the field of Clinical Pharmacy and Pharmacy Practice. She has completed a Diploma in Health Economics and Outcome Research from the University of Washington in 2015. She is working as a Lecturer in Clinical Pharmacy and Pharmacy Practice Department, Faculty of Pharmacy, The British University in Egypt. She is the Head of the Health Economics Unit, Center for Drug Research and Development, The British University in Egypt.

Email: nermeen.ashoush@bue.edu.eg