Hepatitis C virus therapy in the direct acting antiviral era

The evolution of treatment for patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) is evolving at a rapid pace. Two new oral antiviral agents, simeprevir and sofosbuvir, have already been approved and are now available for treatment of patients with chronic HCV. Other antiviral agents will be available during 2014.

The protease inhibitor simeprevir was recently approved for use with peginterferon (PEGINF) and ribavirin (RBV) in patients with chronic genotype 1. About 80% of patients achieve a rapid virologic response and can be treated for 24 weeks. The sustained virologic response (SVR) in treatment-naive patients is about 80%. Sofosbuvir, the first polymerase inhibitor, is effective in all HCV genotypes. When utilized with peginterferon and RBV for 12 weeks in treatment-naive patients with genotypes 1, 4, 5 and 6, an SVR of 90% is observed. Sofosbuvir and RBV have also been studied without interferon and represent the first interferon-free therapy for chronic HCV.

It is now possible to cure chronic HCV in the vast majority of patients with chronic HCV and in many patients without interferon.