Bristol-Myers Squibb’s daclatasvir and Gilead Sciences’ Sovaldi (sofosbuvir), with or without ribavirin, offer near-perfect hepatitis C virus (HCV) cure rates among those who have received a liver transplant. Researchers in the prospective cohort ANRS CO23 CUPILT study treated 335 people between July 2013 and November 2014 and reported their findings at the 50th International Liver Congress in Vienna, Austria.
Out of that group, 190 were liver transplantees, 84 percent of whom were treated for 24 weeks, with the remainder treated for 12 weeks. Thirty-eight percent received ribavirin.
Ninety-seven percent (62 of 64) of the transplantees who have made it to the four-week mark past treatment have achieved a sustained virologic response four weeks after therapy (SVR4), which indicates a high likelihood that they will achieve an SVR12, which is considered a cure. Ninety-five percent (42 of 44) of those who are 12 weeks past treatment have achieved an SVR12.
Twelve percent of the participants experienced serious side effects from treatment, which led two people to stop treatment prematurely. There was one death, from diabetic coma. The most common serious side effects involved toxicity to the kidneys. Three percent of the participants, all of whom were on ribavirin, experienced anemia.
