Two wonder drugs recently approved by the FDA might be a miracle cure for Hepatitis C.

In July, the FDA approved both Sovaldi and Technivie. While these pricey drugs have been big news for the 3.2 million Americans suffering from Hepatitis C, they are now even bigger news, given Pamela Anderson’s announcement that she has lined up to take one of these treatments.

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“Thanks to the new (anti-viral regimen), I could be Hep C free within the month,” Anderson said in a statement.

“I don’t have liver damage and I don’t have any side effects.”

The former “Baywatch” babe and Playboy model  has been living with Hepatitis C since 2002 (she contracted the virus through a dirty needle shared with ex-husband Tommy Lee) — and she has worked hard to not let it change the quality of her life.

“I don’t have liver damage and I don’t have any side effects. I’m living my life the way I want to, but it could eventually have caused me some problems and so it was a real blessing that I was able to get the medicine,” she told People magazine.

Blessings come with a price, however. Anderson is worth anywhere from $5 million to $8 million and that kind of money will come in handy to pay for a treatment that costs close to $100,000 per patient.

A NIGHT OF NEW YORK CLASS” TO HELP BAN NYC CARRIAGE HORSESA cure for Hepatitis C will be an exciting blessing for hundreds of thousands of Americans as well as millions of carriers around the world. But as wonder drugs like AbbVie’s Technivie promise to wipe out hepatitis C in our lifetime, they also threaten to wipe out state and federal medical care budgets.

Hepatitis C is a viral disease that causes liver inflammation, which can lead to failure of the organ.

“Most people infected with HCV have no symptoms of the disease until liver damage becomes apparent, which may take several years. Some people with chronic HCV infection develop cirrhosis over many years, which can lead to complications such as bleeding, jaundice (yellowish eyes or skin), fluid accumulation in the abdomen, infections or liver cancer,” the Food and Drug Administration reported.

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Approximately 2.7 million Americans are infected with HCV, of which genotype 4 is one of the least common, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

General statistics from the National Medical Association show that there are 3.2 million people in the U.S. suffering from Hepatitis C. Various ways the illness is contracted include:

  • Sharing needles and other equipment to inject illegal drugs (the #1 way)
  • Getting blood transfusions or an organ transplant before 1992
  • Getting shots with needles infected with hepatitis C blood, something more common in developing countries
  • Getting tattoos or piercings with infected needles
  • Though rare, a mother with hepatitis C may pass it to her baby. Also rare, health care workers can be infected when exposed to hepatitis C blood on the job. Hepatitis C also can be transmitted sexually if one partner is infected (again rare). The risk increases as the number of partners increases.

Think what you may of Pamela Anderson, but she has worked hard change public perception of the stigma attached to Hepatitis C. Her new regimen, and new healthy life, hold the promise of hope for others.

“I’m halfway there. I’m really excited. I feel good. I feel so blessed,” she has said.

As more medical innovations become more widely available (and not just to the wealthy and famous), those blessings will be more widely shared.