Hepatitis C News

FDA-approved oral direct-acting agent therapy produced high rates of safety, tolerability and efficacy for treating hepatitis C virus infection, especially for patient populations considered difficult to cure, according to research published in Annals of Internal Medicine.

Chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a leading cause of cirrhosis, end-stage liver disease, hepatocellular carcinoma, and death from liver disease in the United States. Rapid advancements in the field and interferon-free regimens approved for HCV, as well as several on the horizon, offer improved outcomes, shorter treatment durations, and unique adverse event profiles; therefore, clinicians must stay informed of the evolving data to counsel patients appropriately. Clinicians face challenges regarding how to make treatment choices among the numerous interferon-free regimens to improve treatment uptake and optimize outcomes in patients with HCV. This roundtable discussion among leading experts in HCV was recorded immediately following the 2016 EASL meeting in Barcelona, Spain, exploring some of the most recent findings and addressing the evidence-based clinical application of these data for HCV patients.

In a small cohort study, ribavirin combined with a regimen for HIV-1 and hepatitis C genotype 1 coinfection was safe and effective in patients also receiving Prezista.

Compared with men, women on the waitlist for liver transplantation were less likely to receive exception points or achieve first position and were more likely to be declined an organ offer due to donor–recipient size mismatch, according to results of a retrospective study.

Results of a hospital investigation into a telemetry unit nurse’s reuse of saline flush prefilled syringes indicates that there was one transmission of hepatitis C genotype 4a to a previously uninfected patient, according to a press release from the CDC.

The Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare has granted priority review to AbbVie’s direct-acting antiviral glecaprevir/pibrentasvir for the treatment of all major genotypes of chronic hepatitis C, according to a press release.

Advancements in digital technology developing concurrently with the advent of the direct-acting antiviral era has created an optimal set of conditions for telemedicine programs in HCV to flourish. Video communication is becoming more freely available worldwide. Current HCV drugs are relatively easy to use. HCV experts are no longer needed to administer year-long interferon-based regimens or manage adverse events. In all likelihood, an increasing number of patients — mainly those in remote or rural areas, but also, possibly, those closer to major academic centers — will be seen by video conferencing. Whether this will translate to dramatically improved outcomes or significant cost and resource savings, however, remains to be seen.

Recently, the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections, sponsored by the International Antiviral Society-USA, provided researchers with an opportunity to translate their clinical findings into progress against the HIV epidemic, according to the organization. That mission includes treating those patients with coinfection with hepatitis C.

In this issue, HCV Next asks five questions of Ashwani K. Singal, MD, MS, FACG, associate professor in the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology of the Department of Medicine at the University of Alabama, Birmingham.

When you look at the consequences of any chronic liver disease such as hepatitis C, three different types of impact emerge.