Combating Related Epidemics in HCV

Summary

This is a two-arm cluster randomized control trial to evaluate the effectiveness of a single-visit point-of-care (POC) test and treat bundle (intervention arm) compared to the current standard-of-care (SOC, control arm). 1:1 randomization occurs at the site level.

Timeline

Start

2026-08-01

Primary completion

2030-11-30

Completion

2030-12-30

Publications

• Background Solomon SS, Wagner-Cardoso S, Smeaton L, Sowah LA, Wimbish C, Robbins G, Brates I, Scello C, Son A, Avihingsanon A, Linas B, Anthony D, Nunes EP, Kliemann DA, Supparatpinyo K, Kityo C, Tebas P, Bennet JA, Santana-Bagur J, Benson CA, Van Schalkwyk M, Cheinquer N, Naggie S, Wyles D, Sulkowski M. A minimal monitoring approach for the treatment of hepatitis C virus infection (ACTG A5360 [MINMON]): a phase 4, open-label, single-arm trial. Lancet Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2022 Apr;7(4):307-317. doi: 10.1016/S2468-1253(21)00397-6. Epub 2022 Jan 10.
• Background Sheehan Y, Cunningham EB, Cochrane A, Byrne M, Brown T, McGrath C, Lafferty L, Tedla N, Dore GJ, Lloyd AR, Grebely J. A 'one-stop-shop' point-of-care hepatitis C RNA testing intervention to enhance treatment uptake in a reception prison: The PIVOT study. J Hepatol. 2023 Sep;79(3):635-644. doi: 10.1016/j.jhep.2023.04.019. Epub 2023 Apr 26.
• Background Coyle C, Moorman AC, Bartholomew T, Klein G, Kwakwa H, Mehta SH, Holtzman D. The Hepatitis C Virus Care Continuum: Linkage to Hepatitis C Virus Care and Treatment Among Patients at an Urban Health Network, Philadelphia, PA. Hepatology. 2019 Aug;70(2):476-486. doi: 10.1002/hep.30501. Epub 2019 Mar 26.
• Background Mahase E. Hepatitis C: Egypt makes "unprecedented progress" towards elimination. BMJ. 2023 Oct 10;383:2353. doi: 10.1136/bmj.p2353. No abstract available.
• Background Dore GJ. Elimination of hepatitis C in Australia by 2030: a decade and counting. Aust Prescr. 2021 Apr;44(2):36-37. doi: 10.18773/austprescr.2021.003. Epub 2021 Apr 1. No abstract available.
• Background Eckhardt B, Mateu-Gelabert P, Aponte-Melendez Y, Fong C, Kapadia S, Smith M, Edlin BR, Marks KM. Accessible Hepatitis C Care for People Who Inject Drugs: A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Intern Med. 2022 May 1;182(5):494-502. doi: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2022.0170.
• Background Eckhardt B, Kapadia SN, Mateu-Gelabert P, Pai M, Fong C, Aponte-Melendez Y, Marks KM. Rapid Treatment Initiation for Hepatitis C in Young People Who Inject Drugs: The Seek, Test, and Rapid Treatment Randomized Trial. Open Forum Infect Dis. 2022 May 7;9(7):ofac225. doi: 10.1093/ofid/ofac225. eCollection 2022 Jul.
• Background Brooks R, Wegener M, Freeman B, Fowles C, Madden LM, Tetrault JM, Nichols L, Altice FL, Villanueva M. Improving HIV and HCV Testing in Substance Use Disorder Programs (SUDs) That Provide Medications for Opiate Use Disorder (MOUD): Role of Addressing Barriers and Implementing Universal and Site-Specific Approaches. Health Promot Pract. 2023 Sep;24(5):1018-1028. doi: 10.1177/15248399231169791. Epub 2023 Jul 13.
• Background Sivakumar A, Madden L, DiDomizio E, Eller A, Villanueva M, Altice FL. Treatment of Hepatitis C virus among people who inject drugs at a syringe service program during the COVID-19 response: The potential role of telehealth, medications for opioid use disorder and minimal demands on patients. Int J Drug Policy. 2022 Mar;101:103570. doi: 10.1016/j.drugpo.2021.103570. Epub 2021 Dec 20.
• Background Westgard LK, Sato T, Bradford WS, Eaton EF, Pilcher F, Hale AJ, Singh D, Martin M, Appa AA, Meyer JP, Weimer MB, Barakat LA, Felsen UR, Akiyama MJ, Ridgway JP, Grussing ED, Thakarar K, White A, Mutelayi J, Krsak M, Montague BT, Nijhawan A, Balakrishnan H, Marks LR, Wurcel AG. National HIV and HCV Screening Rates for Hospitalized People who Use Drugs Are Suboptimal and Heterogeneous Across 11 US Hospitals. Open Forum Infect Dis. 2024 Apr 16;11(5):ofae204. doi: 10.1093/ofid/ofae204. eCollection 2024 May.
• Background Shrestha R, Karki P, Altice FL, Huedo-Medina TB, Meyer JP, Madden L, Copenhaver M. Correlates of willingness to initiate pre-exposure prophylaxis and anticipation of practicing safer drug- and sex-related behaviors among high-risk drug users on methadone treatment. Drug Alcohol Depend. 2017 Apr 1;173:107-116. doi: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2016.12.023. Epub 2017 Feb 2.
• Background McFarland W, Lin J, Santos GM, Arayasirikul S, Raymond HF, Wilson E. Low PrEP Awareness and Use Among People Who Inject Drugs, San Francisco, 2018. AIDS Behav. 2020 May;24(5):1290-1293. doi: 10.1007/s10461-019-02682-7.
• Background Di Martino V, Rufat P, Boyer N, Renard P, Degos F, Martinot-Peignoux M, Matheron S, Le Moing V, Vachon F, Degott C, Valla D, Marcellin P. The influence of human immunodeficiency virus coinfection on chronic hepatitis C in injection drug users: a long-term retrospective cohort study. Hepatology. 2001 Dec;34(6):1193-9. doi: 10.1053/jhep.2001.29201.
• Background Escudero DJ, Lurie MN, Mayer KH, King M, Galea S, Friedman SR, Marshall BDL. The risk of HIV transmission at each step of the HIV care continuum among people who inject drugs: a modeling study. BMC Public Health. 2017 Jul 25;17(1):614. doi: 10.1186/s12889-017-4528-9.
• Background Skarbinski J, Rosenberg E, Paz-Bailey G, Hall HI, Rose CE, Viall AH, Fagan JL, Lansky A, Mermin JH. Human immunodeficiency virus transmission at each step of the care continuum in the United States. JAMA Intern Med. 2015 Apr;175(4):588-96. doi: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2014.8180.
• Background Trickey A, Fajardo E, Alemu D, Artenie AA, Easterbrook P. Impact of hepatitis C virus point-of-care RNA viral load testing compared with laboratory-based testing on uptake of RNA testing and treatment, and turnaround times: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Lancet Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2023 Mar;8(3):253-270. doi: 10.1016/S2468-1253(22)00346-6. Epub 2023 Jan 24.
• Background Batchelder AW, Heo M, Foley JD, Sullivan MC, Lum P, Pericot Valverde I, Taylor LE, Mehta SH, Kim AY, Norton B, Tsui JI, Feinberg J, Page K, Litwin AH; HERO Study Group. Shame and stigma in association with the HCV cascade to cure among people who inject drugs. Drug Alcohol Depend. 2023 Dec 1;253:111013. doi: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2023.111013. Epub 2023 Oct 31.
• Background Fleurence RL, Collins FS. A National Hepatitis C Elimination Program in the United States: A Historic Opportunity. JAMA. 2023 Apr 18;329(15):1251-1252. doi: 10.1001/jama.2023.3692.
• Background Hernandez-Con P, Wilson DL, Tang H, Unigwe I, Riaz M, Ourhaan N, Jiang X, Song HJ, Joseph A, Henry L, Cook R, Jayaweera D, Park H. Hepatitis C Cascade of Care in the Direct-Acting Antivirals Era: A Meta-Analysis. Am J Prev Med. 2023 Dec;65(6):1153-1162. doi: 10.1016/j.amepre.2023.06.016. Epub 2023 Jun 26.
• Background Bunting SR, Vidyasagar N, Wilson AP, Hazra A. Preexposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) for HIV Prevention at Outpatient Substance Use Treatment Facilities, United States, 2021. Am J Public Health. 2024 Aug;114(8):833-837. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2024.307699. Epub 2024 May 30.
• Background Rosengren AL, Lelutiu-Weinberger C, Woodhouse EW, Sandanapitchai P, Hightow-Weidman LB. A Scoping Review of HIV Pre-exposure Prophylaxis Stigma and Implications for Stigma-Reduction Interventions for Men and Transwomen Who Have Sex with Men. AIDS Behav. 2021 Jul;25(7):2054-2070. doi: 10.1007/s10461-020-03135-2. Epub 2021 Jan 2.
• Background Sherman SG, Schneider KE, Park JN, Allen ST, Hunt D, Chaulk CP, Weir BW. PrEP awareness, eligibility, and interest among people who inject drugs in Baltimore, Maryland. Drug Alcohol Depend. 2019 Feb 1;195:148-155. doi: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2018.08.014. Epub 2018 Oct 22.
• Background Falade-Nwulia O, Gicquelais RE, Astemborski J, McCormick SD, Kirk G, Sulkowski M, Thomas DL, Mehta SH. Hepatitis C treatment uptake among people who inject drugs in the oral direct-acting antiviral era. Liver Int. 2020 Oct;40(10):2407-2416. doi: 10.1111/liv.14634.
• Background Hall EW, Bradley H, Barker LK, Lewis KC, Shealey J, Valverde E, Sullivan P, Gupta N, Hofmeister MG. Estimating hepatitis C prevalence in the United States, 2017-2020. Hepatology. 2025 Feb 1;81(2):625-636. doi: 10.1097/HEP.0000000000000927. Epub 2024 May 13.
• Background Hagan H, Thiede H, Des Jarlais DC. Hepatitis C virus infection among injection drug users: survival analysis of time to seroconversion. Epidemiology. 2004 Sep;15(5):543-9. doi: 10.1097/01.ede.0000135170.54913.9d.
• Background Bromberg DJ, Mayer KH, Altice FL. Identifying and managing infectious disease syndemics in patients with HIV. Curr Opin HIV AIDS. 2020 Jul;15(4):232-242. doi: 10.1097/COH.0000000000000631.
• Background Bhandari R. HIV Preexposure Prophylaxis Among People With Substance Use Disorder-The Road Less Traveled. JAMA Netw Open. 2022 Jul 1;5(7):e2221352. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.21352. No abstract available.
• Background Hodder SL, Feinberg J, Strathdee SA, Shoptaw S, Altice FL, Ortenzio L, Beyrer C. The opioid crisis and HIV in the USA: deadly synergies. Lancet. 2021 Mar 20;397(10279):1139-1150. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(21)00391-3. Epub 2021 Feb 19.

Drugs

Indications