Lancet - What is the impact of treatment for hepatitis C virus infection?

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What is the impact of treatment for hepatitis C virus infection?
Stefan Z Wiktor Email the author Stefan Z Wiktor , John D Scott
Published: 08 July 2017

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(17)31762-2
Lancet - Volume 390, No. 10090, p107–109, 8 July 2017

The introduction of direct-acting antiviral (DAA) medicines in 2013 revolutionised the treatment of chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. The efficacy of DAA therapy is impressive—in many clinical trials HCV cannot be detected by sensitive laboratory assays in more than 90% of people who complete DAA therapy, and observational studies have documented similar results.^1,2 High efficacy combined with low rates of adverse events have led WHO to include DAAs in the WHO Model List of Essential Medicines

About The Cochrane Review of DAAs by Jakobsen and Colleagues
How to explain these apparently contradictory results? An important difference between the studies reviewed by Jakobsen and colleagues is the duration of follow-up, which was short at an average of 34 weeks compared with an average of more than 5 years in the other reviews.^{9, 10} Simply put, the clinical trials included in the systematic review by Jakobsen and colleagues were not designed to answer the question posed by the authors about the effect of DAA treatment on morbidity or mortality.

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