Robert Hindes, MD is the chief medical officer of Trek Therapeutics, a company seeking new treatments for hepatitis C virus (HCV). Doctors at Monash University are urging the Australian government to subsidize new direct-acting antiviral drugs that can cure HCV to prevent thousands of avoidable deaths from liver disease. The new drugs work by disrupting HCV replication and infection. Researchers cited the drugs' high cure rates but noted that without subsidies, their high cost puts them out of reach for most patients and could lead to over 22,000 HCV-related deaths in Australia by 2030.

1. A New Therapy May Help
Patients with HCV
By Robert Hindes MD

2. Introduction
• Over the course of his career, Robert Hindes, MD,
completed a research fellowship in infectious diseases at
Harvard, and at one time served as a clinical assistant
professor at New York Medical College. Robert Hindes,
MD, is the cofounder and currently the chief medical
officer of Trek Therapeutics, a for-profit benefits
corporation seeking to create innovative treatments for
hepatitis C viral infections.
In a letter to the Medical Journal of Australia, doctors
and researchers at Monash University are urging the
government to subsidise new drugs that can cure
Hepatitis C and prevent thousands of avoidable deaths
due to associated liver conditions.

3. Patients with HCV
• In the letter, Professor William Sievert says a delay in access
to the new direct acting antiviral treatment means that
thousands of HCV infected patients could die or develop
advanced liver disease.
The team from Monash University is recommending that the
new drugs be put immediately on the Pharmaceutical Benefits
Scheme.
The new HCV drugs, known collectively as direct-acting
antivirals (DAAs), are medications that work to disrupt the
replication and infection stages of the virus. There are four
classes of DAAs, each defined by their mechanism of action
and the target they seek out.

4. Conclusion
• In their letter, the researchers from Monash University
cited DAA therapy's high cure rates in afflicted patients.
The high cost of DAA therapy puts it out of reach for
most patients, but without it, the researchers believe, at
least 22,200 HCV-related deaths could occur in Australia
between 2014 and 2030.
While at Pharmasset, Robert Hindes, MD, conducted
research in Australia on HCV drugs which are now
approved in Australia, but unaffordable for most
patients because the drugs have not been placed on the
Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme which establishes
which drugs will be paid for.