Although it’s been over a decade since game-changing curative drugs for hepatitis C were approved, progress has been slow and treatment remains out of reach for many. But one small clinic in Buffalo, New York, is proving that doesn’t have to be the case.
Hepatitis C is a silent epidemic in the U.S., affecting up to 4 million people, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Many people don’t know they have it. Left untreated, the disease can cause cirrhosis and liver cancer.
With a model that’s faster, more accessible and remarkably effective, La Bodega, a clinic at Erie County Medical Center, is curing patients at a staggering rate.
One of those patients is Lindsey Groffenberg, who quit drugs and was cured of Hep C at La Bodega.
“When you’re coming out of addiction, and you’re trying to recover, the last thing you want is to feel small,” she told CBS News. “When I entered La Bodega, I asked them, ‘So, when’s the doctor gonna come in?’ And he said, ‘I am the doctor.'”
That doctor was Dr. Tony Martinez.
“One of our mottos is ‘come one, come all,'” Martinez told CBS News. “It’s a very safe, stigma-free space, you know, I think people feel that when they come here.”
Groffenberg now helps others navigate recovery. Success stories like hers have made the clinic a model program.
La Bodega gets Hep C patients on treatment in a single visit, and has a track record of curing about 98% of its 7,000-plus patients. New FDA-approved testing machines help speed up treatment.
The testing machines, Martinez explained, allow them to see a patient and in that same visit confirm their diagnosis and initiate their meds.
As drug costs have dropped, access should have improved, yet so far, less than a third of Americans with Hep C have been treated.
Success stories like La Bodega’s have policymakers seeking a national plan to eliminate Hep C. In Washington, a bipartisan bill backed by Senators Bill Cassidy and Chris Van Hollen would invest federal funds into wiping out the disease.
The average patient with Hep C can rack up as much as $46,000 a year in medical costs. Treating patients early could save the government an estimated $7 billion over a decade.
“This is a monumental step forward for anybody who has Hep C — they’d get access to medications,” Martinez.
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