Jamie Barrand | Oct 10, 2015

AbbVie to market hepatitis C drug Viekirax in Japan

The Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) has approved Global pharmaceutical company AbbVie's Viekirax, a treatment for adult patients living with chronic genotype 1 (GT1) hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection.

Japan has one of the highest rates of hepatitis C infection in the industrialized world, with an estimated 1.5 to 2 million people living with the disease, and Viekirax is a 12-week, two direct-acting antiviral, fixed-dose combination of paritaprevir/ritonavir with ombitasvir hepatitis C treatment.

Of MHLW's approval, MD, PhD, professor of Medicine at the University of Paris-Est, France Jean-Michel Pawlotsky told Patient Daily, "Today's approval represents an important step forward for the treatment of Japanese patients, a population with specific needs based on patient and viral characteristics."

In addition, Michael Severino, M.D., AbbVie executive vice president, research and development and chief scientific officer, said, "We are pleased to provide Viekirax as a new treatment that offers a high probability of virologic cure for GT1b HCV patients and are working to support access to our treatment in Japan." 

AbbVie employs more than 28,000 people worldwide and markets medicines in more than 170 countries. For further information, visit www.abbvie.com.

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