Wes1212
10-17-2002, 08:42 PM
This is Dr. Cecil:
Who is Dr. Ben Cecil?
To my knowledge, I am the only physician in the world who wants to treat thousands of patients with hepatitis C. I am board certified in Internal Medicine and Gastroenterology/Hepatology. I became interested in treating HCV when I joined the medical staff at the Louisville VA in May 1997. There were more than 600 untreated HCV patients, and it was my responsibility to treat as many as possible.
I had the privilege of being a student of the late Dr. Carlo Tamburro, an internationally known hepatologist. Dr. Tamburro was a leader and innovator in the treatment of hepatitis C and other liver diseases. He taught and conducted liver research at the University of Louisville School of Medicine for a quarter of a century.
I was a co investigator with Dr. Tamburro for two clinical trials using Rebetron prior to FDA approval in December 1998. I have been an investigator in several other trials using Intron A, Pegasys and PegIntron in combination with ribavirin.
In 1999, I published an abstract, which outlined my individualized approach to treatment. I am the only hepatologist who criticized the one size fits all treatment that had been done for 12 years. I criticized the lack of HCV-RNA levels to guide therapy. I pointed out that many curable patients were not being cured because doctors were using a cookbook approach. They were not treating HCV intelligently like doctors treat hypertension, diabetes and heart disease. Schering and their experts were telling doctors not to check the viral level until week 24 of therapy. Can you imagine a doctor putting a patient on a medication for hypertension and not rechecking the blood pressure for 24 weeks? This is like driving at night without headlights but has been the standard of medical practice.
In May 1999 I was chosen to give a poster presentation at Digestive Disease Week held in San Diego. My poster demonstrated that US veterans were heavier and many of them needed higher doses of interferon or they would fail treatment. This research predated Schering’s switch from one-size fits all therapy with Rebetron to weight based PegIntron dosing. I did not and do not recommend weight based dosing. I simply pointed out that some patients need more interferon than others. If you raise the dose you can cure them. If you do not they fail therapy.
In 2000, I published my initial work on treating patients with decompensated cirrhosis. Some patients with end stage liver disease from HCV cirrhosis have undetectable viral levels on treatment. They improve clinically with treatment. Ten thousand die every year in America from HCV cirrhosis and the pharmaceutical companies and the hepatology leaders refuse to offer them antiviral therapy. I have and will continue to criticize this practice. Hepatitis C cirrhosis is a lethal disease and must be treated aggressively. The drug companies do not want their medications blamed for deaths and side effects from cirrhosis. They want patients with mild liver disease to be treated, even though those patients are in no risk of premature death. Drug companies want to sell drugs. They do not want to save lives if it may affect their profits. To their credit, Roche did a large study on patients with early HCV cirrhosis. This study had very good results. Roche and Schering refuse to study their drugs in very advanced cirrhosis. I hope to encourage research for end stage HCV cirrhosis.
In 1999 I became a HCV advocate. My treatment of Michael Paulley, an imprisoned veteran with HCV cirrhosis was cancelled by the Kentucky Department of Corrections. I went to federal court with Mr. Paulley and his attorneys. Mr. Paulley is the only prisoner in the United States who has won the constitutional right to treatment of his HCV. He is still on treatment and has had undetectable HCV-RNA for more than one year.
I am trying to get health care reform for patients with HCV. If you have kidney failure, Medicare will take care of you. If you have liver failure, you are on your own. You will not get a liver transplant in Louisville KY (and I suspect elsewhere) unless you have great insurance or cash. Liver donors are mostly working men and women, not rich folks. Why should their donated livers only go to the rich or well insured? That is unjust.
We must have more rights for patients and less bureaucrats telling doctors what they can or cannot do for their patients. One large health insurance corporation refused to let one of my cirrhotic patients have higher doses of interferon, which he needed. They also refused to let him have the FDA approved PegIntron. The patient died because his insurance company did not want to spend a few bucks. They only care about the price of their stock. That insurance company is not the only one doing this.
To summarize, I have treated about 1,400 patients with HCV. I want to cure as many as possible using individualized treatment. I want to do everything possible for patients with HCV cirrhosis, many who are dying for no reason. I want all patients with hepatitis C cirrhosis to able to get treatment. Free or imprisoned, rich or poor, no one should die from a curable liver infection.
I treat patients with decompensated HCV cirrhosis. They are simultaneously referred to a liver transplant center for evaluation.
Ben Cecil, MD
Who is Dr. Ben Cecil?
To my knowledge, I am the only physician in the world who wants to treat thousands of patients with hepatitis C. I am board certified in Internal Medicine and Gastroenterology/Hepatology. I became interested in treating HCV when I joined the medical staff at the Louisville VA in May 1997. There were more than 600 untreated HCV patients, and it was my responsibility to treat as many as possible.
I had the privilege of being a student of the late Dr. Carlo Tamburro, an internationally known hepatologist. Dr. Tamburro was a leader and innovator in the treatment of hepatitis C and other liver diseases. He taught and conducted liver research at the University of Louisville School of Medicine for a quarter of a century.
I was a co investigator with Dr. Tamburro for two clinical trials using Rebetron prior to FDA approval in December 1998. I have been an investigator in several other trials using Intron A, Pegasys and PegIntron in combination with ribavirin.
In 1999, I published an abstract, which outlined my individualized approach to treatment. I am the only hepatologist who criticized the one size fits all treatment that had been done for 12 years. I criticized the lack of HCV-RNA levels to guide therapy. I pointed out that many curable patients were not being cured because doctors were using a cookbook approach. They were not treating HCV intelligently like doctors treat hypertension, diabetes and heart disease. Schering and their experts were telling doctors not to check the viral level until week 24 of therapy. Can you imagine a doctor putting a patient on a medication for hypertension and not rechecking the blood pressure for 24 weeks? This is like driving at night without headlights but has been the standard of medical practice.
In May 1999 I was chosen to give a poster presentation at Digestive Disease Week held in San Diego. My poster demonstrated that US veterans were heavier and many of them needed higher doses of interferon or they would fail treatment. This research predated Schering’s switch from one-size fits all therapy with Rebetron to weight based PegIntron dosing. I did not and do not recommend weight based dosing. I simply pointed out that some patients need more interferon than others. If you raise the dose you can cure them. If you do not they fail therapy.
In 2000, I published my initial work on treating patients with decompensated cirrhosis. Some patients with end stage liver disease from HCV cirrhosis have undetectable viral levels on treatment. They improve clinically with treatment. Ten thousand die every year in America from HCV cirrhosis and the pharmaceutical companies and the hepatology leaders refuse to offer them antiviral therapy. I have and will continue to criticize this practice. Hepatitis C cirrhosis is a lethal disease and must be treated aggressively. The drug companies do not want their medications blamed for deaths and side effects from cirrhosis. They want patients with mild liver disease to be treated, even though those patients are in no risk of premature death. Drug companies want to sell drugs. They do not want to save lives if it may affect their profits. To their credit, Roche did a large study on patients with early HCV cirrhosis. This study had very good results. Roche and Schering refuse to study their drugs in very advanced cirrhosis. I hope to encourage research for end stage HCV cirrhosis.
In 1999 I became a HCV advocate. My treatment of Michael Paulley, an imprisoned veteran with HCV cirrhosis was cancelled by the Kentucky Department of Corrections. I went to federal court with Mr. Paulley and his attorneys. Mr. Paulley is the only prisoner in the United States who has won the constitutional right to treatment of his HCV. He is still on treatment and has had undetectable HCV-RNA for more than one year.
I am trying to get health care reform for patients with HCV. If you have kidney failure, Medicare will take care of you. If you have liver failure, you are on your own. You will not get a liver transplant in Louisville KY (and I suspect elsewhere) unless you have great insurance or cash. Liver donors are mostly working men and women, not rich folks. Why should their donated livers only go to the rich or well insured? That is unjust.
We must have more rights for patients and less bureaucrats telling doctors what they can or cannot do for their patients. One large health insurance corporation refused to let one of my cirrhotic patients have higher doses of interferon, which he needed. They also refused to let him have the FDA approved PegIntron. The patient died because his insurance company did not want to spend a few bucks. They only care about the price of their stock. That insurance company is not the only one doing this.
To summarize, I have treated about 1,400 patients with HCV. I want to cure as many as possible using individualized treatment. I want to do everything possible for patients with HCV cirrhosis, many who are dying for no reason. I want all patients with hepatitis C cirrhosis to able to get treatment. Free or imprisoned, rich or poor, no one should die from a curable liver infection.
I treat patients with decompensated HCV cirrhosis. They are simultaneously referred to a liver transplant center for evaluation.
Ben Cecil, MD