Quadruple therapy shows 100 percent SVR for HCV patients

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Exciting new data presented today at the International Liver CongressTM 2011 show that quadruple treatment 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 therapy (SVR12).1.

In the quadruple treatment 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 treatment is PegIFN-alpha plus RBV � a dual treatment. The addition of DAAs (currently in phase-III clinical trials) marks the next step in therapy evolution � a triple treatment. However, the new data presented today suggests that quadruple treatment could be the next generation of therapy for chronic HCV patients.

Professor Heiner Wedemeyer, EASL'S Secretary General, said: "Quadruple treatment is possibly the future of HCV therapy; this study goes a way to confirming that. While it's expected that the first DAAs and triple treatment will be approved for use later this year, quadruple treatment 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 therapys.

The Phase-IIa trial looked at a cohort of 21 HCV genotype 1 null responders (patients who have failed to respond to prior therapy), of whom 19 had an unfavourable IL28B genotype, which predisposes HCV patients to therapy failure.

Only about 30% of null responders to PegIFN-alpha/RBV therapy achieve sustained virological response (SVR) when retreated with PegIFN-alpha/RBV plus telaprevir, demonstrating a high unmet medical need.1


Posted by: Mark    Source