Michigan Disability Resistance

http://bit.ly/2JGGeVr

An international medical non-profit organization has teamed up with an Egyptian drug manufacturer to develop a hepatitis C combination treatment that boasts cure rates comparable to the leading market pharmaceuticals – at less than 1 percent of the price.

Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) released a statement on results from a clinical trial assessing the efficacy of ravidasvir – a new antiviral – taken with sofosbuvir, an existing medication. Set to be presented today at the International Liver Conference in Paris prior to publication in a journal, the dataset showed that a 12-week course of daily ravidasvir/sofosbuvir treatment completely eradicated traces of the virus from 97 percent of the study’s 301 patients, including those with the most severe forms of infection.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), approximately 71 million people are currently infected with hepatitis C (HCV), 75 percent of whom live in low- to middle-income countries. In 2016, 400,000 patients died and only 1.76 million people received treatment despite the availability of curative drugs.

HCV is a blood-to-blood transmitted viral infection that can persist indefinitely in the human body, leading to a chronic disease typified by fatigue and potentially fatal damage to liver cells that, in turn, can cause liver cancer.

Until 2013, the only treatment options were months-long regimens of daily pills combined with weekly injections of interferon that often induced intolerable side-effects and failed to help patients with more severe strains of the virus and/or advanced disease.

Then, beginning in early 2014, newly approved oral antivirals called DAAs, capable of effectively killing the virus with few side-effects, became widely available. The problem? Drug manufacturers initially charged around $80,000 dollars for a course of the new combination regimens, even though they aren’t costly to produce.

In response to campaigning by public health agencies declaring the disease a global epidemic, plus competition from cheaper generic drugs, pharmaceutical companies began lowering their prices. Now, several nations with a high prevalence of hepatitis have special pricing agreements with manufacturers so they can distribute the current DAAs to those in need.

However, these regimens still cost tens of thousands of dollars per person – prohibiting state-funded DAA therapy programs in poorer nations. 

Hoping to expedite the WHO goal of putting 80 percent of HCV patients on treatment by 2030, DNDi joined forces with drugmaker Pharco Pharmaceuticals to create ravidasvir. The combination treatment was subsequently evaluated in Malaysian and Thai patients.

“The results indicate that the sofosbuvir/ravidasvir combination is comparable to the very best HCV therapies available today,” said DNDi Executive Director Dr Bernard Pécoul in a statement, “but it is priced affordably and could allow an alternative option in countries excluded from pharmaceutical company access programmes.”

Per the organization's press release, a full 12-week course of sofosbuvir/ravidasvir will cost just $300 in Malaysia once it gets the official rubber stamp of approval.

https://cnnmon.ie/2r7Euhc

She's been in and out of jail since she was 18. Every time she's been released, she's lost her disability benefits and her Medicaid coverage. That meant she couldn't afford her rent or her medication for her bipolar disorder until she was able to re-enroll, which could take weeks or months -- even if she went to all her appointments on time.

"That would put me into a bad spell of being depressed, and my moods would be bad," says Stone, 37, over the phone from the Douglas County Jail in Omaha, Nebraska. "And then I would end up doing something stupid like shoplifting to get alcohol. It's just a vicious cycle."

That critical gap in safety net programs, which has set Stone up for failure again and again, is a harsh reality for millions of people released from prison every year — and one that counties are now trying to get fixed.

Local jails and prisons are required to provide prisoners with adequate health care. But the interruption of federal and state programs inmates had been depending on can cause major problems, making it more likely that people will cycle in and out of jail.

Federal rules prohibit states from billing Medicaid for any inmate care unless the covered individual requires a hospital stay of at least 24 hours. They also cut off Social Security and Disability payments and some veterans' benefits. Medicaid benefits are taken away as soon as a suspect has been booked into jail, whether they've been proven guilty or not. If they are convicted and incarcerated, Social Security and VA benefits disappear 30 and 60 days later, respectively.

Some states simply suspend benefits, allowing inmates to pick them back up as soon as they're released. But 34 states still terminate enrollment either immediately or after the prisoner spends a certain period of time behind bars.

Can't have people with disabilities actually getting effective health care, after all....

http://bit.ly/2r8vTLg

On December 26, 2017, the Department of Justice (DOJ) ruled to formally withdraw 4 Advance Notices of Proposed Rulemaking related to Titles II and III of the Americans with Disabilities Act.2 The withdrawal included rulemaking that addressed making non-fixed medical equipment and furniture, such as examination tables, scales, and mammogram equipment, accessible to individuals with disabilities.

People with mobility disabilities rely on accessible medical equipment to get proper care. For example, simply getting onto the examination table unassisted can be challenging if the table is at a high, fixed height. The same can be said for imaging machines.

The inability to adjust equipment so that it can be used properly by people with disabilities can too often result in subpar care. As a result, some may not receive the screening or diagnostic evaluations they need to manage and treat their health conditions.

http://bit.ly/2KjiZ55

Diagnostic overshadowing is when physical health problems, pain, or not yet diagnosed health conditions are not taken seriously, or are seen as delusional, attention-seeking, or made up because someone has a mental health diagnosis and/or self-injury scarring.

*Invalidation

Invalidating someone else is not merely disagreeing with something that the other person said.
It is a process in which individuals communicate to the other that the opinions and emotions of the target invalid, irrational, selfish, uncaring, stupid, most likely insane, and wrong, wrong, wrong.

Invalidators let it be known directly that their target’s views and feelings, do not count for anything to anybody at any time or in any way.

http://bit.ly/2Khjlcx

UCLA law students are starting a new journal that showcases scholarship on disability law.

The Disability Law Journal at UCLA will be the only disability law journal in the country after it publishes its first issue in spring 2019. Law students who created the journal said they hope to inform more people about disability law in the United States and issues that disproportionately affect people with disabilities, such as employment discrimination, police violence and sexual abuse.

The journal is one of several specialized law journals at UCLA, including the Criminal Justice Law Review and Entertainment Law Review.

Sunney Poyner, the editor-in-chief of the journal and a UCLA law student, said the lack of legal and academic publications about disability law inspired her to start the journal.

“This came about when I was in my disability law class, and it came to my attention that there was no disability law journal. That was very surprising, especially as it is such a vast area of law,” she said. “I started talking about (the journal) with people at the law school, and everyone was very supportive.”