Norwich ― In treating patients suffering from addiction, the Southeastern Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence had been hamstrung by its inability to treat hepatitis C, a viral disease that causes inflammation of the liver.

But that’s no longer the case, SCADD officials recently announced.

In late February, SCADD, a private nonprofit based here and licensed by the state Department of Public Health, began administering Eclusa, a hepatitis C drug, to three patients at its 98-bed Lebanon Pines residential facility for men. By last week, two more patients had begun taking the drug.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Eclusa for the treatment of hepatitis C in adults in 2016.

Two years later, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention received reports of 3,621 cases of acute (new) hepatitis C. But since many people with the disease don’t have symptoms and don’t seek treatment, the CDC believes the actual number of cases was probably closer to 50,300. At that time, the CDC estimated the hepatitis C infection became chronic in 75% to 85% of cases.

In 2016, an estimated 2.4 million people were living with hepatitis C in the United States.

SCADD is the only substance abuse provider of its kind in Connecticut that provides the Eclusa treatment, which could be a “game-changer,” according to Stacey Lawton, SCADD’s chief executive officer.

“It’s not a common characteristic of such programs,” she said. “We’re fortunate to have forward-thinking folks who put this all together.”

Lawton credited Ashland Hayes, the nurse manager at Lebanon Pines, with spearheading the effort.

Hayes said SCADD partnered with entities in the community, including a local pharmacy and NP Wellness Care LLC, a provider founded by Lynn Rapsilber, an advanced practice registered nurse, to administer Eclusa. The drug’s regimen calls for the taking of a single pill daily for 12 weeks.

Planning began in 2022, and screening of patients for hepatitis C began last fall.

“We’ve always had patients wanting to be screened (for hepatitis C), but we weren’t able to do it,” Hayes said. “Removing that barrier and enabling patients to get treatment for the disease could make a huge difference in their lives.”

Lawton noted that many SCADD patients avoid engagement with the general health care community, which they mistrust, and would not otherwise avail themselves of an opportunity to be screened for hepatitis C.

“We’re looking at something curative here,” Dr. Lawrence Peacock, SCADD’s chief medical officer, said of the agency’s new hepatitis C treatment program. “We’re on the precipice of eradicating an illness, something you seldom can say.”

Peacock said those afflicted with the disease ― commonly spread among drug users through the use of shared needles or other injection equipment ― may be unaware they’re infected and carry the disease for a long time.

“We’re not only protecting liver, but people in the community by limiting the spread of the disease,” Peacock said.

Most patients who enter Lebanon Pines have used opioids such as fentanyl, according to Peacock.

Lebanon Pines serves 600 to 700 men a year. It might be awhile before the percentage of them suffering from hepatitis C can be pinned down.

“In the worst case, if every case tested positive, we would be able to treat all 98 of them,” Peacock said, referring to the number of beds in the facility. “As we move forward, and it becomes known the treatment is available, we expect to have our admissions department do some prescreening.”

“Research shows that when you improve the liver, everything in a person’s life improves,” he said.

b.hallenbeck@theday.com