Quadruple therapy shows 100 percent SVR for HCV patients previously unresponsive to treatment
- Date:
- April 2, 2011
- Source:
- European Association for the Study of the Liver
- Summary:
- New data show that quadruple therapy in chronic hepatitis C (HCV) patients suppressed the emergence of resistant variants and resulted in a 100 percent rate of sustained virological response -- undetectable HCV RNA -- 12 weeks after treatment.
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Exciting new data presented April 2 at the International Liver CongressTM 2011 show that quadruple therapy in chronic hepatitis C (HCV) patients suppressed the emergence of resistant variants and resulted in a 100% rate of sustained virological response -- undetectable HCV RNA -- 12 weeks after treatment (SVR12).
In the quadruple therapy study, HCV patients were given four drugs in combination; pegylated Interferon-alpha (PegIFN-alpha); ribavirin (RBV); and two different direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) BMS-650032 (an HCV NS3 protease inhibitor) and BMS-790052 (an HCV NS5A replication complex inhibitor).
The current standard of care (SoC) for HCV therapy is PegIFN-alpha plus RBV -- a dual therapy. The addition of DAAs (currently in phase-III clinical trials) marks the next step in treatment evolution -- a triple therapy. However, the new data suggests that quadruple therapy could be the next generation of treatment for chronic HCV patients.
Professor Heiner Wedemeyer, EASL'S Secretary General, said: "Quadruple therapy is possibly the future of HCV treatment; this study goes a way to confirming that. While it's expected that the first DAAs and triple therapy will be approved for use later this year, quadruple therapy appears to have a more profound effect on virological response, with less of a resistance problem."
The study may also provide new hope for a growing number of HCV patients who cannot be effectively treated for chronic hepatitis with current treatments.
The Phase-IIa trial looked at a cohort of 21 HCV genotype 1 null responders (patients who have failed to respond to previous treatment), of whom 19 had an unfavourable IL28B genotype, which predisposes HCV patients to treatment failure.
Only about 30% of null responders to PegIFN-alpha/RBV treatment achieve sustained virological response (SVR) when retreated with PegIFN-alpha/RBV plus telaprevir, demonstrating a high unmet medical need.
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Materials provided by European Association for the Study of the Liver. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.
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