20 February 2017 - More than 30,000 hepatitis C patients in Australia have been treated with revolutionary drugs since their listing on the PBS in March last year.

Australia is on target to eliminate hepatitis C within 10 years due to the rapid uptake of a curative anti-viral treatment program since its listing on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme a year ago.

A Kirby Institute report released on Tuesday supports predictions made by doctors last year that the infectious disease would be eliminated as a major public health threat by 2026.

The report shows more than 30,000 patients out of the 230,000 Australians living with chronic hep C were treated with the direct-acting anti-viral drugs in 2016.

Professor Greg Dore, head of the Kirby Institute's Viral Hepatitis Clinical Research Program, says it's been a "great start" which has given Australia a unique opportunity to become the first country to eliminate a major infectious disease through treatment intervention.

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