Grant: Operating Grant - Priority Announcement : Hepatitis C (bridge)

There are 70,000 patients with chronic hepatitis C (CHC) infection in Canada who have not been treated, even though effective treatment is available. In this study, we plan to measure the quality of life and economic burden of CHC infection. The quality of life of HCV patients is poorly understood. In particular, we do not know whether patients' quality of life improves after treatment, and we don't know what late stage liver disease is like. This information is important because it may determine whether Canadian patients have access to new and costly drug treatments. Since 2011, four new drugs have become available to treat CHC. They seem to be more effective in treating CHC patients, but they are also much more expensive and have different side effects than previous drugs. We propose to measure the patient burden of HCV. This includes health related quality of life in patients being treated with the new drugs, and across CHC disease stages. It also includes the effect of HCV on workplace productivity, and costs borne by patients. We will interview two groups of patients in two hospitals and two community clinics in Calgary, Toronto and Montreal: patients who are being treated with one of the new drugs, and patients who have advanced, late-stage CHC. Patients will fill out questionnaires and answer questions about their quality of life, health, out-of-pocket costs, and time costs during CHC treatment. We will use these results to determine the costs and benefits (cost effectiveness) of the new drugs in patients with CHC, and to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of screening people in Canada for CHC. The information from our study will play a critical role in determining whether new drugs are offered to patients with CHC. It will be used by national agency and provincial formularies across the country in these critical, and costly decisions. The results of our study will also play a critical role in guiding decisions around CHC screening in the general population.