Hepatitis C News

Direct-acting antiviral therapy was safe and highly effective in patients coinfected with HIV and hepatitis C, according to a recently published study. Factors that negatively affected sustained virologic response rates included HIV-related immunosuppression, HCV RNA load, severity of liver disease and suboptimal DAA-based regimens.

Hepatitis C virus continues to affect millions of people worldwide. WHO estimates that 71 million people are living with chronic HCV infection, and about 399,000 people die from complications of the virus each year, mostly from cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma.

Patients with hepatitis C without advanced liver disease who achieved sustained virologic response with direct-acting antiviral therapy had significantly reduced all-cause mortality rates compared with both treated patients who did not achieve SVR and untreated patients, according to a recently published data.

As governments across the nation focus on the opioid epidemic and the prevention of overdoses, the leading infectious disease organizations issued statements urging Congress to provide $100 million for the CDC’s Viral Hepatitis programs to prevent further outbreaks of hepatitis and HIV due to injection drug use.

Combining the efforts of public health and family practices were effective in more patients receiving hepatitis tests, but did not result in more chronic hepatitis C diagnoses, according to findings published in the Annals of Family Medicine.

Since the introduction of direct-acting antivirals, more patients with hepatitis C are achieving sustained virologic response than ever before. Even patients who failed previous interferon or DAA therapy have the opportunity for secondary treatment with newly developed drugs.

Sovaldi with ribavirin was safe and effective among a cohort of Japanese patients with hepatitis C genotype 2, according to a recently published study. However, renal dysfunction correlated significantly with a lower rate of sustained virologic response.

BETHESDA, Maryland — In this exclusive video from the AASLD Industry Colloquium 2018, Kris V. Kowdley, MD, FAASLD, from Swedish Medical Center in Seattle, Washington, discusses the topics covered at the meeting and the opportunities for representatives of the industry, academia and regulatory agencies to come together.

Ravidasvir plus ritonavir-boosted danoprevir with ribavirin for 12 weeks resulted in 100% sustained virologic response among a cohort of Asian patients with hepatitis C genotype 1 without cirrhosis, according to recently published results of a phase 2 study.

Results of a comparative study of patients with and without diabetes who underwent curative liver resection for hepatitis C-related hepatocellular carcinoma showed that diabetes did not affect surgical outcomes and was not an unfavorable factor in selecting candidates.