We use cookies to understand how you use our site and to improve your experience. This includes personalizing content and advertising. To learn more, click here. By continuing to use our site, you accept our use of cookies. Cookie Policy.

Features Partner Sites Information LinkXpress
Sign In
Advertise with Us

Download Mobile App




Shorter Treatment Strategy Effective for Hepatitis C

By HospiMedica International staff writers
Posted on 17 Mar 2014
Print article
A six-week treatment regimen seems to be as effective as the more standard 12 weeks of therapy for patients with Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, according to a new study.

Researchers at the US National Institutes of Health Clinical Center (Bethesda, MD, USA) evaluated a fixed-dose co-formulation of the HCV polymerase inhibitor sofosbuvir and the NS5A inhibitor ledipasvir, both used for brief interferon- and ribavirin-free direct-acting antiviral regimens. The 60 study participants, mostly low-income people with chronic hepatitis C in Washington DC (USA) were randomly assigned to receive therapy with sofosbuvir/ledipasvir alone for 12 weeks, or the co-formulation plus a third direct-acting drug—either the non-nucleoside HCV polymerase inhibitor GS-9669 or the HCV protease inhibitor GS-9451—for six weeks.

The results showed that HCV viral load declined rapidly after starting therapy, and 100% of participants in all arms had undetectable levels at the end of treatment. A single person in the GS-9669 arm relapsed after stopping therapy, resulting in success rates of 100% with 12-week dual therapy, 95% with GS-9669 triple therapy, and 100% with GS-9451 triple therapy. All regimens were generally safe, well tolerated, and with no serious adverse events; the most common side effects were headache, fatigue, and diarrhea. The study was presented at the annual Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections, held during March 2014 in Boston (MA, USA).

“What we have learned from this trial is that we can treat patients for shorter durations of therapy and we see that six weeks is effective,” said lead author Anita Kohli, MD. “Secondly, these regimens are very simple: one, two, or three pills a day. Third, our patient population is one that is historically very difficult to treat; more than 80% of the patients were African American, most had genotype 1a, most had high viral loads, and 25%–30% of the patients had advanced-stage liver disease.”

“The reason we wanted to look at the short-duration therapies is because we think it is very important in treatment of hepatitis C globally in limited resource settings. We really need very simple treatments for the 150 million to 180 million people globally,” added Dr. Kohli. “This short duration, simple therapy for HCV may prove relevant for the global elimination of hepatitis C, where uncomplicated, well-tolerated therapy is required to ensure adherence and minimize healthcare expenditures.”

Hepatitis C, also known as non-A and non-B hepatitis, is the most common chronic blood-borne infection in the United States and is the leading indication for liver transplants. While 15%–45% of those infected with HCV are able to clear the virus from their blood within about six months from the time of infection, the rest do not, and suffer from chronic hepatitis C. About 70% of chronically infected persons will develop chronic liver disease, and 1%–5 % of patients may die from chronic liver disease.

Related Links:

US National Institutes of Health Clinical Center

Gold Member
POC Blood Gas Analyzer
Stat Profile Prime Plus
Gold Member
SARS‑CoV‑2/Flu A/Flu B/RSV Sample-To-Answer Test
SARS‑CoV‑2/Flu A/Flu B/RSV Cartridge (CE-IVD)
Silver Member
Compact 14-Day Uninterrupted Holter ECG
NR-314P
New
Stereotactic Ultralight System
SUSy

Print article

Channels

Surgical Techniques

view channel
Image: NTT and Olympus have begun the world\'s first joint demonstration experiment of a cloud endoscopy system (Photo courtesy of Olympus)

Cloud Endoscopy System Enables Real-Time Image Processing on the Cloud

Endoscopes, which are flexible tubes inserted into the body's natural openings for internal examination and biopsy collection, are becoming increasingly vital in medical diagnostics. Their minimal invasiveness... Read more

Patient Care

view channel
Image: The newly-launched solution can transform operating room scheduling and boost utilization rates (Photo courtesy of Fujitsu)

Surgical Capacity Optimization Solution Helps Hospitals Boost OR Utilization

An innovative solution has the capability to transform surgical capacity utilization by targeting the root cause of surgical block time inefficiencies. Fujitsu Limited’s (Tokyo, Japan) Surgical Capacity... Read more

Health IT

view channel
Image: First ever institution-specific model provides significant performance advantage over current population-derived models (Photo courtesy of Mount Sinai)

Machine Learning Model Improves Mortality Risk Prediction for Cardiac Surgery Patients

Machine learning algorithms have been deployed to create predictive models in various medical fields, with some demonstrating improved outcomes compared to their standard-of-care counterparts.... Read more

Point of Care

view channel
Image: The PATHFAST hs-cTnI-II high-sensitivity troponin assay has been developed for the PATHFAST Biomarker Analyzer (Photo courtesy of Polymedco)

POC Myocardial Infarction Test Delivers Results in 17 Minutes

Chest pain is the second leading cause of emergency department (ED) visits by adults in the United States, generating over 7 million visits annually. In the event of a suspected heart attack, physicians... Read more
Copyright © 2000-2024 Globetech Media. All rights reserved.