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PI-based therapy for hepatitis C showed promising results in real-life urban setting
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SAN DIEGO — The success of protease inhibitor-based therapy among African-Americans with hepatitis C can be reproduced outside of clinical trials, Robert Kung, MD, of Emory University said during the American College of Gastroenterology Annual Scientific Meeting.
“You can interpret the SVR [sustained virologic response] rates that were done in the trials and expect to see those in a real-life clinical practice,” he said.
African-Americans tend to have lower SVR rates than other populations with pegylated interferon/ribavirin therapy, but demonstrate significantly improved SVR rates with HCV NS34A protease inhibitors in clinical trials, Kung said.
To examine the real-life response, researchers conducted a prospective observational study analyzing the first 25 consenting patients who initiated PI-based HCV therapy at a single center that serves a predominantly urban African-American population.
Of the patients, 76% were treatment naive and 20% were prior nonresponders. Forty percent were obese, 28% had diabetes, and 72% had stage 2-4 fibrosis.
Eight patients completed the PI-based therapy, and all achieved early virologic response and end-of-treatment response. Seven patients demonstrated rapid virologic response and extended rapid virologic response.
Of the remaining patients, six remained on therapy and 11 discontinued therapy due to nonresponse (32%) or intolerance (64%).
“Seventy percent of the patients who were able to complete therapy qualified for response-guided therapy of shortened duration of 24 weeks instead of the full 48 weeks,” Kung said, while the study also noted longer follow-up was needed to better determine SVR rates in the population.
Disclosure: Kung reports no relevant financial disclosures.
For more information:
Kung R. #816: Success with Protease Inhibitor-Based Hepatitis C Therapy in an Urban, Primary Care-Based Hepatitis C Clinic. Presented at: the 2013 American College of Gastroenterology Annual Scientific Meeting; Oct. 11-16, San Diego.