Over three million people in the United States have chronic HCV infection (CHC). CHC is the leading cause of cirrhosis and a common cause of hepatocellular carcinoma and liver transplantation. Fortunately, treatments exist that can often reduce the morbidity and mortality of CHC and the response rate to antiviral therapy is predicted to improve with the introduction of newer treatment options, including protease inhibitors, entry inhibitors and polymerase inhibitors. To improve patient outcomes, clinicians need to be aware of all treatment options and how to integrate them into current treatment algorithms. They also need to address problems with adherence to reduce the risk of resistance.
This online activity has been designed to focus on recent advances in CHC treatment, especially newer therapies. Three national thought leaders will lead viewers participants through an overview of the current CHC treatment paradigms and present detailed clinical trial data on newer therapies and strategies that are expected to shape treatment paradigms in the near future.
The audience for this program will consist of health care providers who care for patients with CHC, including internal medicine and family practice physicians, hepatologists, gastroenterologists, and infectious disease specialists, along with nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and nurses.
Upon completion of this activity, participants should be able to:
Integrate new antiviral drugs into current treatment algorithms for the management of treatment-naïve CHC patients;
Describe the importance of individualizing the care of each CHC patient and incorporate that information into clinical practice;
Utilize past treatment history to examine new antiviral drugs in treatment-experiences patients with CHC, especially those who have not responded to standard treatment;
Utilize information regarding drug adverse events, drug pharmacokinetics and patient adherence to design a treatment regimen for CHC that is likely to achieve antiviral success and reduce morbidity and mortality.
Discuss anti-HCV agents in development and how they may impact future care.
Release Date: September 16, 2011
Expiration Date: September 16, 2012
Estimated time to complete this on-demand Web symposium: 2 hours, 30 minutes
Media: Internet
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Bruce R. Bacon, MD |
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Paul Y. Kwo, MD |
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Mark Sulkowski, MD |
This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the Essential Areas and policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education through the joint sponsorship of the Postgraduate Institute for Medicine and ViralEd, Inc.. The Postgraduate Institute for Medicine is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians.
The Postgraduate Institute for Medicine designates this enduring material for a maximum of 2.5 AMA PRA Category 1 CreditsTM. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
The Postgraduate Institute for Medicine assesses conflicts of interest with its instructors, planners, managers and other individuals who are in a position to control the content of CME activities. All relevant conflicts of interest that are identified are thoroughly vetted by the Postgraduate Institute for Medicine for fair balance, scientific objectivity of studies utilized in this activity, and patient care recommendations. The Postgraduate Institute for Medicine is committed to providing its learners with high quality CME activities and related materials that promote improvements or quality in health care and not a specific proprietary business interest of a commercial interest.
The faculty reported the following financial relationships or relationships to products or devices they or their spouse/life partner have with commercial interests related to the content of this CME activity:
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Bruce Bacon, MD, MS
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Paul Kwo, MD
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Mark Sulkowski, MD
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The planners and managers reported the following financial relationships or relationships to products or devices they or their spouse/life partner have with commercial interests related to the content of this CME activity:
The following planners and managers, Jan Hixon, RN, BSN, MA; Trace Hutchinson, PharmD; Julia Kimball, RN, BSN; Samantha Mattiucci, PharmD; Jan Schultz, RN, MSN, CCMEP; Patricia Staples, MSN, NP-C, CCRN, Brian Boyle, MD; Tracey Barrett, RN; Richard Gordon and Matthew Banks hereby state that they or their spouse/life partner do not have any financial relationships or relationships to products or devices with any commercial interest related to the content of this activity of any amount during the past 12 months.
This educational activity may contain discussion of published and/or investigational uses of agents that are not indicated by the FDA. The Postgraduate Institute for Medicine, ViralEd, Inc. and Merck & Co. do not recommend the use of any agent outside of the labeled indications.
The opinions expressed in the educational activity are those of the faculty and do not necessarily represent the views of the Postgraduate Institute for Medicine, ViralEd, Inc. and Merck & Co. Please refer to the official prescribing information for each product for discussion of approved indications, contraindications, and warnings.
There are no fees for participating and receiving credit for this activity. During the period, September 16, 2011 through September 16, 2012 participants must 1) read the learning objectives and faculty disclosures; 2) study the educational activity; and 3) complete the post-test and evaluation form.
To answer the questions, click on your selected choice for each answer then proceed to the next question. We recommend that you print a copy of your answers before you submit them to us. Once completed, click on the Submit Post-test at the bottom of the page. Your post-test will automatically be graded.
If you successfully complete the post-test (score of 70% or higher). your certificate will be made available immediately. Click on View Certificate and print the certificate for your records. If you received a score of 69% or less, you will receive a message notifying you that you did not pass the post-test. You may retake the post-test until successful.
You may complete the post-test online at: www.cmeuniversity.com
Participants have an implied responsibility to use the newly acquired information to enhance patient outcomes and their own professional development. The information presented in this activity is not meant to serve as a guideline for patient management. Any procedures, medications, or other courses of diagnosis or treatment discussed or suggested in this activity should not be used by clinicians without evaluation of their patient's conditions and possible contraindications on dangers in use, review of any applicable manufacturer's product information, and comparison with recommendations of other authorities.
Supported by an independent educational grant from Merck & Co., Inc.
This program requires a modern web browser (Internet Explorer 7+, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, Google Chrome). Certain educational activities may require additional software to view multimedia, presentation, or printable versions of their content. These activities will be marked as such and will provide links to the required software. That software may be: Adobe Flash, Apple Quicktime, Adobe Acrobat, Microsoft Powerpoint, Windows Media Player, and Real Networks Real One Player.
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Jointly Sponsored by the Postgraduate Institute for Medicine (PIM) and ViralEd, Inc..
Click logo above to contact PIM or ViralEd.
