A plug

You know, now that I have officially attained SVR and am essentially cured, I can do my obligatory Big Pharma plug.

To wit: I have seen people on Hep C boards who have had a serious adverse reaction to incivek, had to discontinue treatment and are now quite understandably pissed off. But their anger goes overboard. They say things like "incivek should have been black-boxed from the beginning" and even "it should never have been allowed on the market".

I can respond to that in a rude and a polite manner.

Rudely, and simply: bullshit.

Politely, and with consideration for them: a medicine is black-boxed if there are deaths associated with it, and there have been none until several months ago. I also suspect that the deaths in question resulted from people continuing treatment even in the presence of some horrid adverse reactions. It sucks: ultimately, nobody is to blame for the side-effects; we are all victims of genetic lottery. I feel sorry for those who had to discontinue treatment, but why would they want to deny it to others? It has worked for many, including myself, after all. Spite? Jealousy? Blech.

So yes, I am officially plugging incivek here. Yes, it is a dangerous drug with nasty side-effects. yes, you may be unlucky and have a nasty adverse reaction (I will probably have the scars from medication rashes on my elbows for the rest of my life--and that was a "mild" reaction)--in which case, stop the treatment immediately! And yes, you may be unlucky and have a strain of virus that is resistant to it. But 4 out of 5 chances, on average, are better than none.