A New Era in the Management of the Hepatitis C

Hepatitis C is an infection caused by the hepatitis C virus that attacks the liver and leads to inflammation. The current standard-of-care regimens include a protease inhibitor—telaprevir or boceprevir—in combination with pegylated interferon and ribavirin. Hepatitis C treatment options on the horizon hold promise for better viral clearance with less toxicity than current regimens. There are new data about new drugs, both direct-acting antivirals while minimizing intolerable side effects or adverse events. Developed new data from 4 phase 3 trials with the hepatitis C drug sofosbuvir and ribavirin show that a 12-week regimen is effective in treating HCV genotypes 1 through 6. In the Annual Scientific Meeting and Postgraduate Course of the American College of Gastroenterology, different research was presented that was drawn from 4 phase 3 studies: NEUTRINO, FISSION, POSITRON and FUSION which enrolled different types of patients, who received Sofosbuvir with Peginterferon Alfa 2a and Ribavirin for 12 or 24 weeks in treatment; for all studies, the primary end point was sustained virologic response at 12 and 24 weeks posttreatment. In all studies, sofosbuvir was well tolerated, with a low incidence of adverse events. In conjunction with the suggested brief duration of this regimen, this indicates that drug combinations should improve treatment adherence compared with IFN-based treatment. In conclusion, 2 novel direct-acting antiviral agents—sofosbuvir and simeprevir—target various components of the HCV genome. Advantages of these drugs include a high barrier to viral resistance, a shorter duration of treatment, once-daily dosing, absence of food restrictions, few clinically significant drug interactions, and similar efficacy in all genotypes.