IDSA, AASLD to collaborate on HCV clinical recommendations

The Infectious Diseases Society of America and the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases will collaborate to develop guidelines for hepatitis C management and treatment, according to a press release.

The development of promising new HCV medications, along with an expected increase in diagnoses of the infection as new testing guidelines are implemented, inspired the organizations to formally collaborate for the first time, Henry Masur, MD, chief of clinical care medicine at the NIH Clinical Center and former IDSA president, told Healio.com.

Henry Masur

“There’s clearly a need for providers to deal with this growing population of people with late-stage liver disease, and there’s a need to understand how the diagnostic and therapeutic fields are changing,” Masur said. “The trend in terms of practice guidelines in the past has been for affected organizations to work together rather than have separate guidelines, so that providers are using the same set of recommendations. Since this disease is primarily being treated by gastroenterologists and infectious disease specialists, this seemed like a logical collaboration.”

The IDSA and AASLD will perform a comprehensive literature review, evaluate current guidelines and develop their recommendations via evidence-based consensus, according to the release. These guidelines will be made available online and will be updated regularly, as the organizations will continue to meet regularly to discuss changes in the field that may impact their recommendations. Masur said that others impacted by the illness, including patient advocacy groups, will have representation on the panel.

David Relman

“Members of AASLD and IDSA are committed to ensuring that patient care keeps pace with rapidly advancing science,” David Relman, MD, IDSA president, said in the release. “This effort is an important step toward advancing that goal.”