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.