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Viral load decreased in patients with HCV after therapies that included statins, fibrates
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Statins and fibrates included in antiviral treatments among patients with hepatitis C virus were effective in inducing a reduction in viral load, according to new study results.
Georgios Grammatikos, MD, University Hospital Frankfurt, Germany, and colleagues conducted a literature review with eight studies from the PubMed and Cochrane databases between January 2000 and April 23, 2013. All studies included patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV) and any evidence of statins and fibrates included in therapy.
According to a meta-analysis, HCV viral load was greatly reduced when patients with HCV were treated with antihyperlipidemic medications (mean log₁₀ reduction, 0.19; 95% CI, 0.11-0.28). Of those medications, bezafibrate had the most powerful antiviral efficacy with a mean log₁₀ reduction of 0.45 (95% CI, 0.17-0.72), whereas rosuvastatin had the weakest effect (mean log₁₀ reduction, 0.06; 95% CI, –0.19 to 0.3).
Fluvastatin had the highest antiviral potential among all statins tested (mean log₁₀ reduction, 0.2; 95% CI, 0.09-0.31) when compared with simvastatin (log₁₀ reduction, 0.1; 95% CI, –0.1 to 0.3). When studies were observed independently, the highest heterogeneity was seen in bezafibrate (P=.0436), followed by simvastatin (P=.078).
“Our meta-analysis reveals a significant reduction of the viral load upon treatment with statins or fibrates, independently of interferon or ribavirin in patients chronically infected with HCV,” Grammatikos told Healio.com/Hepatology. “Thus, we suggest, that a co-medication with statins or fibrates in HCV patients treated with [direct-acting antiviral agent] regimes could be beneficial regarding the reduction of HCV viral load.”
Disclosure: See the study for a full list of relevant financial disclosures.