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The Cure Hepatitis C Act Of 2025: Critical questions and policy design considerations

by | Dec 12, 2025

Curative direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) for hepatitis C virus (HCV) have been available for more than a decade, yet, an estimated 2.4 to 4.0 million Americans had the chronic disease between 2017 and 2020 (latest data available). This past June, Senators Bill Cassidy (R-LA) and Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) introduced the Cure Hepatitis C Act of 2025 (CHCA)—one way to potentially solve this public health problem once and for all. The legislation builds on encouraging developments, including Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s recent $98 million pilot program directed at individuals with substance use disorder and serious mental illness—populations that shoulder a disproportionate HCV burden.

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Congress must not miss an opportunity to end HIV

by | Nov 30, 2023

Despite the Republican-led success against HIV, some House Republicans have been considering a spending bill that would cut funding for HIV prevention and treatment. Such cuts would not only lead to more preventable infections and deaths — they’d result in more long-term spending by American taxpayers. We have the tools to end HIV. We must not abandon our efforts nor the people and communities most impacted by this potentially deadly infectious disease.

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It is possible to end HIV in the United States within the next decade – lawmakers must make it a reality

by | Jun 1, 2023

We believe congressional authorization for a new government program is unlikely in the near term, given the program’s price tag and its reliance on a centralized mechanism for purchasing drugs and laboratory services.
A more realistic approach, given these constraints, is for Congress to increase funding at the CDC along with targeted grants to community health centers and Ryan White Program clinics, particularly those that can most effectively increase PrEP uptake among Blacks and Latinos and in the South. It’s possible to end HIV in the United States within the next decade. Lawmakers must act to make it a reality.

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Congress, don’t cut funding for HIV programs

by | May 25, 2023

Over the next few months, congressional appropriation committee leaders will have to hash out spending levels for individual government programs. President Joe Biden’s budget takes an enormous step toward meeting the nation’s goal of ending the HIV epidemic by 2030 through substantially increasing funding for HIV treatment and prevention programs. Some in Congress seem set on slashing spending. And that means domestic HIV funding could be on the chopping block. That’s a tragedy—one that could jeopardize our progress in the fight against the virus.

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We can end the HIV epidemic–but Congress must act

by | Jul 22, 2022

Imagine if Congress, with one simple action, could help end a 40-year-old epidemic, erase some of the racial inequities in healthcare, and save money in the process. That may sound too good to be true. But lawmakers can do it if they fund expanding access programs to a highly effective HIV drug in the 2023 spending bill.

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