AbbVie, a worldwide biopharmaceutical company, recently announced that its new Viekirax plus Exviera treatment has shown positive results regardless of any resistance-associated variants that genotype 1 chronic hepatitis C patients have experienced before the treatments.
Whether or not the patients received ribavirin (RBV), they showed positive results with the Viekirax (ombitasvir/paritaprevir/ritonavir tablets) plus Exviera (dasabuvir tablets) regimen.
In the study, 100 percent of the genotype 1b patients with the new treatments (minus the RBV) over a period of 12 weeks showed sustained virologic response rates just 48 weeks after they received treatments (SVR48). These results were positive despite any baseline NS5A RAVs.
In addition, 97 percent of the patients with genotype 1a, whether or not they had NS5A RAVs, showed an achievement rate of SVR48(1).
"These results show that high virologic cure rates were achieved in HCV genotype 1a and 1b infected patients no matter their NS5A RAV status when treated with Viekirax plus Exviera with and without ribavirin as recommended, a regimen which contains the NS5A inhibitor ombitasvir," Dr. Christoph Sarrazin, professor of medicine at J.W. Goethe University Hospital in Frankfurt, Germany, said.
This marks a significant step toward improving hepatitis C treatments for patients.
"It's important that we understand emerging issues in treating people with chronic HCV, including RAVs, so that we can meet the needs of patients and physicians," Dr. Rob Scott, chief medical officer at AbbVie, said. "As we learn more about the role of resistance to direct-acting antiviral regimens, it is vital to further investigate treatment options that are not affected by baseline RAVs."
