MONTREAL, March 3, 2015 /CNW/ - A combination of two once-daily medications for chronic hepatitis C infection has been shown in newly released study results to cure almost all the patients who participated, despite the patients also being co-infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). This patient population historically has been challenging to treat for hepatitis C, in large part due to potential drug-drug interactions between the antiviral therapy regimens used to treat each infection.
Results of ALLY-2, a Phase 3 clinical trial evaluating the investigational once-daily combination of daclatasvir and sofosbuvir for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C in patients co-infected with HIV were announced last week and showed that those treated for 12 weeks (HCV treatment-naïve and -experienced), 97% (n=149/153) achieved cure (sustained virologic response 12 weeks after treatment, or SVR12).
"The data showed results that are very promising in patients that are well known as being both difficult to treat and at higher risk for developing serious liver disease, making the results all the more significant," said Dr. Stephen Shafran, Professor of Medicine (Infectious Diseases) at the University of Alberta. "It's also important to note that we are seeing high cure rates with the daclatasvir and sofosbuvir combination regardless of the genotype of the hepatitis C infection."
