Author information
1 Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA. rfontana@med.umich.edu.
2 Liver Unit, Hospital Clinic, IDIBAPS and CIBERehd, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
3 Liver Unit, The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation and Trust and Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.
4 Toronto Liver Centre, Toronto, Canada.
5 Division of Gastroenterology, Sherri and Alan Conover Center for Liver Disease and Transplantation, Houston Methodist, Houston, TX, USA.
6 AbbVie, Inc., North Chicago, IL, USA.
7 J.W. Goethe University, Frankfurt, Germany.
Abstract
INTRODUCTION:
The presence or absence of cirrhosis in patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection influences the type and duration of antiviral therapy. Non-invasive markers, like serum aspartate aminotransferase (AST) to platelet ratio index (APRI), may help identify appropriate HCV treatment-naive patients for 8-week treatment with the pangenotypic regimen of glecaprevir/pibrentasvir.
METHODS:
This single-arm, open-label, international, prospective study (NCT03212521) evaluated the efficacy and safety of 8-week glecaprevir/pibrentasvir regimen in HCV treatment-naïve adults with chronic HCV genotypes 1-6 infection, APRI ≤ 1, and no prior evidence of cirrhosis. The primary and secondary outcomes were sustained virologic response at 12 weeks post-treatment (SVR12) by modified intent-to-treat (mITT) and intent-to-treat (ITT) analyses, respectively. Additional endpoints included virologic failures, treatment adherence, and genotype-specific SVR12 rates.
RESULTS:
Among the 230 patients enrolled, most were less than 65 years old (90%); 37% and 43% had a history of injection drug use or psychiatric disorders, respectively. SVR12 rates were 100% (222/222; 95% CI 98.3-100%) and 96.5% (222/230; 95% CI 94.2-98.9%) by mITT and ITT analyses, respectively. There were no virologic failures. ITT SVR12 rates were greater than 94% for all HCV genotypes. In patients with available data, treatment adherence was 99% (202/204). There were no grade 3 or higher laboratory abnormalities in alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), and total bilirubin, and low rates of serious adverse events (2%).
CONCLUSIONS:
Glecaprevir/pibrentasvir was highly efficacious and well tolerated in HCV treatment-naïve patients with APRI ≤ 1 and no prior evidence of cirrhosis.
TRIAL REGISTRATION:
ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT03212521.
FUNDING:
AbbVie. Plain language summary available for this article.