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A large multi-center clinical trial has found that a combination of antiviral medications can eradicate hepatitis C infection in more than 90 percent of patients with advanced liver disease. Known as the ASTRAL-4 trial, the study was co-led by investigators at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) and Intermountain Medical Center and published online Nov. 17 in The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM).
“More than half of the patients in the study had failed a prior course of treatment for hepatitis C infection,” said co-principal investigator Michael Curry, MD, Director of Hepatology and Medical Director of Liver Transplantation at BIDMC and Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. “Our trial showed that using a daily combination of the antiviral medications Sofosbuvir and Velpatasvir, with or without the addition of Ribavirin for 12 weeks or 24 weeks, successfully treated Hepatitis C in 83 percent to 94 percent of patients.” [The study was a phase 3, open-label study involving both previously treated and previously untreated patients infected with HCV genotypes 1 through 6 who had decompensated cirrhosis (classified as Child–Pugh–Turcotte class B).]
“There have been few treatment options available for treating hepatitis C infection in patients with existing cirrhosis and liver failure,” said Curry. “Our study found that early improvements in liver function were seen in a substantial portion of the study participants, as indicated by improvement in the Childs Pugh score, which assesses severity of liver cirrhosis, and the MELD score, which is used to determine patient priority for liver transplantation.”
Read more….http://medicalxpress.com/news/2015-11-combination-therapy-successfully-hepatitis-patients.html