Published: 23 April 2012
A regimen of boceprevir with pegylated interferon and ribavirin achieved cure rates of between 40 and 68% in patients who did not respond to a previous course of hepatitis C therapy, data presented to the 47th International Liver Congress in Barcelona last week show.
The addition of boceprevir to standard hepatitis C therapy (pegylated interferon/ribavirin) achieved a sustained virological response 24-weeks post treatment (SVR24) in 40% of individuals with a prior null response to treatment; in 56% of those who relapsed after an earlier course of therapy; and in 68% of patients with a prior partial response.
Factors associated with the success of treatment included baseline platelet count and viral load.
Boceprevir is a protease inhibitor which works directly against hepatitis C. Its use with standard therapy – pegylated interferon and ribavirin – has been shown to increase the chances of treatment-naive individuals achieving a sustained virological response to therapy.
However the treatment of individuals who have not responded successfully to standard therapy remains a challenge. There are hopes that directly acting antiviral agents such as boceprevir will provide important new therapeutic options........
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