Bangkok--14 Oct--Hill & Knowlton
Innovative testing and treating solutions from Roche’s Personalised Healthcare (PHC) promises new hope for 3.5 million Thai patients
Leading hepatologists in the Asia-Pacific region, namely from Prince of Songkla University and Siriraj Hospital today announced the latest innovation in life-changing hepatitis B management at a Roche seminar in Bangkok. The new approach offers a combination of medical treatment and viral marker testing that increases the chances of improved long term outcomes toward a clinical cure, thereby bringing new hope to the estimated 3.5 million Thais suffering from Hepatitis B. The treatment is now available in Thailand and in line with the concept of Personalised Healthcare (PHC), which aims to fit treatment to each patient for the most effective disease management.
Associate Professor Tawesak Tanwandee, M.D. Division of Gastroenterology, Department of medicine, Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University, said “With this latest innovation of testing and treating solutions for hepatitis B management, patients can now have higher hope for the stage of clinical cure where they will be free of disease, free of treatment and have better life quality.”
Insight into the new treatment approach
A 48-week course of the peginterferon base therapy works to fight the disease in two ways: by directly attacking the virus and, at the same time, boosting the immune system and mobilising it to fight the disease. In order to know whether the treatment works well, doctors will measure the level of a viral protein called surface or‘s’-antigen. The clearance of s-antigen is considered a clinical cure. Recent studies show that the number of patients who achieve s-antigen clearance on peginterferon base therapy is the highest compared to other treatment options. 1
The importance of Personalised Healthcare (PHC)
Associate Professor Teerha Piratvisuth, Director of NKC Institute of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Prince of Songkla University, said “The latest HBsAg quantification test allows doctors to accurately measure the decline of s-antigen. This provides valuable insight into the likelihood of treatment success for patients. Doctors can also see which patients benefit from the treatment and can track the treatment success. Therefore, the patients can rest assured that they are on the right path and receive the most suitable treatments for the type of disease they are suffering from.”
Associate Professor Teerha continued, “This new approach is built upon the Personalised Healthcare concept which aims to fit treatment to patients, instead of a generic approach. With multitude of successful hepatitis cases, this approach proves to offer higher response rate for hepatitis B management and highest cost efficiency for relevant stakeholders. Patients receive the most suitable and effective treatments, while doctors are in the best position to understand if a particular treatment will work for a given patient. This approach ensures no wasted medicine, helps save time and allows healthcare organizations to save treatments for patients who will really benefit from them.”
The new paradigm of hepatitis B management is made possible by the innovation from the pharmaceutical and diagnostic divisions of Roche. As one of the first pharmaceutical companies to concentrate its R&D efforts on the search for Personalised Healthcare solutions, Roche Thailand Ltd and Roche Diagnostics (Thailand) Ltd. will continue to focus on developing more and more tailored advanced solutions for the management of hepatitis B.
The silent killer
Chronic hepatitis B is known to be the silent killer. According to 2008 statistics, more than 350 millions of people globally are infected and every year 250,000 lives are lost due to this disease. It has a striking incidence in Asia where 1 out of every 10 people has chronic hepatitis B and in Thailand where an estimated 3.5 million Thais are infected with this disease.
Liver cancer studies show hepatitis B patients often had symptoms for a long time but never sought treatment. This is due to the fact that hepatitis B doesn’t show up specific symptoms and early symptoms such as fatigue and loss of appetite are often ignored since they are similar to less serious illnesses. Therefore, it is difficult to identify infected patients unless they have their blood tested. If left unaware and untreated, chronic hepatitis B can lead to cirrhosis and liver cancer with high rate of mortality. Unfortunately, there are several cases that patients have limited knowledge in the disease and are unaware that they have chronic hepatitis B. Therefore, by the time they discover the infection, it has become too late to treat.
“It is vital for Thai people to understand and have proper knowledge of hepatitis B, especially its transmission route, ways to protect themselves from this disease and the effective treatment solutions available in the country. Knowledge about the disease will enable people to handle it properly and seek treatment as early as they can because that will definitely increase the chance for clinical cure,” concluded Associate Professor Tawesak.
About Roche
Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, Roche is a leader in research-focused healthcare with combined strengths in pharmaceuticals and diagnostics. Roche is the world’s largest biotech company with truly differentiated medicines in oncology, virology, inflammation, metabolism and CNS. Roche is also the world leader in in-vitro diagnostics, tissue-based cancer diagnostics and a pioneer in diabetes management. Roche’s personalised healthcare strategy aims at providing medicines and diagnostic tools that enable tangible improvements in the health, quality of life and survival of patients. In 2010, Roche had over 80,000 employees worldwide and invested over 9 billion Swiss francs in R&D. The Group posted sales of 47.5 billion Swiss francs. Genentech, United States, is a wholly owned member of the Roche Group. Roche has a majority stake in Chugai Pharmaceutical, Japan. For more information: www.roche.com.
Media contact
Kalle Siebring and Sornsopin Puttachartsaewee
Hill & Knowlton Thailand
Tel +66 02 6273501 ext 101
E-mail:
[email protected]
Aurachorn Inkanuwat
Roche Thailand
Tel: +66 2 792 4010
E-mail:
[email protected]
[1] European Association for the study of the liver. EASL Clinical Practice Guidelines: Management of chronic hepatitis B. J Hepatol 2009; 50: 227-42.