Southampton UK, July 22, 2003 ……  A new centralised genotyping service that enables clinicians to differentiate between types of hepatitis C infections is poised to improve treatment for patients with Hepatitis C, a severely under treated viral infection in the UK. The new service, available through HepCgen will allow clinicians to tailor costly interferon-based treatment regimes to the patients’ viral genotype, thus lowering costs and side effects.

Although five times more prevalent than HIV, most cases of Hepatitis C go undetected, prompting the phrase ‘the silent epidemic’, therefore it is important that, once identified, diagnosis and treatment commence without delay.  “HepCgen’s centralised Hepatitis C genotyping service allows hospitals throughout the UK extremely rapid access to this important information, without the need for an expensive and time consuming in-house genotyping set up”, said Paul Colford, CEO of HepCgen.

Through early identification of patients with genotype 1, or non-1, HepCgen is able to distinguish patients that may require lower doses for shorter periods of time.  This knowledge not only has obvious benefits to the patient by reducing medication and associated side effects, but also provides a significant cost saving to healthcare funders: HepCgen founder Dr William Rosenberg estimates a saving to the NHS of half a billion pounds a year if doctors routinely use this service.

HepCgen regards cost of treatment as a significant factor in the number of patients undergoing treatment for Hepatitis C and Dr Rosenberg notes, “Of the 400,000 cases in the UK only about 20,000-30,000 are in secondary care and of those, only some 2,000 cases are being treated, because the NHS won’t release funding for treatment.”

Further evidence of the importance placed on genotyping in the treatment of hepatitis C came with Roche’s announcement on 18^th July of the European Commission’s approval of a new label for PEGASYS, Roche’s flagship treatment for the hepatitis C virus.  The approval came as a result of a pivotal study by Roche, demonstrating that the duration of combination therapy and dose of Copegus (ribavirin) for chronic hepatitis C patients depends on viral genotype.  Dr. Rosenberg continues, “We have demonstrated similar data with the Schering-Plough therapy, among others. The importance of identifying genotype in the treatment of Hepatitis C is becoming rapidly accepted. This recognition by the European Commission is strong additional testimony.”

“HepCgen currently provides its proprietary services to over 20 centres in the UK, most of which are reimbursed by the major pharmaceutical companies involved in Hepatitis C”, stated Mr Colford.  “We would like to expand our services throughout Europe, as countries like Italy, Germany, and France are treating over five times the number of patients the UK chooses to, and will tremendously benefit by either using HepCgen services or licensing this technology. ”

HepCgen Ltd was recently spun out of the University of Southampton and specialises in diagnostics and treatments for chronic liver disease.  Dr. Spike Willcocks, IP2IPO adds, “HepCgen is a very exciting opportunity in our portfolio, whose technology meets a now widely recognised medical need, and this step demonstrates the increasing value of the Company.  Further development in this area could be rapidly accelerated with additional financing in the near future.”

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Notes to Editors:

1.         About HepCgen Ltd

HepCgen Ltd, founded by liver disease specialist Dr William Rosenberg, specialises in diagnostics and treatments for chronic liver disease, focusing on hepatitis C viral infections.  The company has developed proprietary tests that aim to help tailor treatments to individual patients and to identify those who are unlikely to respond to treatment early on. HepCgen’s tests provide medically actionable data i.e., the technology developed takes genomics-based, or nucleic acid based diagnostics to a practical level, where results can be measured in hours, not weeks. The Company has raised £350,000 from IP2IPO, a majority owned subsidiary of Evolution Group plc, the investment bank and fund management group. 

2.         Hepatitis C is a blood borne virus and anyone who has ever injected drugs or who received contaminated transfusions before donated blood was screened for the virus are at risk. Infected Mother to baby transmission is thought to occur in approximately 6% of cases, this increasing to 15-20% when there is HIV co-infection. Estimates vary from 200,000 to over 400,000 people may be infected.  Only 1 in 10 people are currently aware they are infected. In 2003, it is estimated over 5000 new cases of Hepatitis C will be diagnosed.  Currently over 40% of referrals to UK hepatologists involve Hepatitis C. Of those patients who know they are infected, hardly a fraction can receive the latest treatment due to lack of funding.

3.         The UK government has promised to take action to tackle this condition but since the Department of Health published a consultation document in August 2002, the action promised at the end of last year has not surfaced.

4.         The Chief Medical Officer’s Infectious Diseases Strategy has recently highlighted Hepatitis C as a cause of major long-term sequelae including cirrohosis, and liver cancer, with considerable treament and costs.  Hepatitis C is the principle cause for liver transplantation in the UK.

5.         Most treatment algorithms relating to the therapy of Hepatitis C are based on current NICE guidelines which are relatively old and do not accurately reflect current practise throughout the rest of Europe and the USA. It is expected that this will be updated in the next assessment by NICE in late 2003.

6.         On 30^th June 2003, a reception was held at the House of Commons to inaugurate the first, Annual National Hepatitis C Awareness Day. Hosted by Neil Gerrard, MP and Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on AIDS, the meeting was attended by over 100 delelgates from across London and both Houses. A Best Practise Guide for London on Hepatitis C was officially lauched. Ken Livingstone, Mayor of London, provided a statement saying “ Iam delighted to send a message of support to the launch of the Hepatitis C Best Practise Guide for London.  Hepatitis C is a significant public health issue for the capital.”

7.         The expected increase in diagnosis of this condition in the UK could well outstrip resources to treat Hepatitis-C.  HepCgen has the capacity to perform genotype tests for the entire UK population utilising the latest real-time nucleic acid testing technology.