Sofosbuvir Treatments Show High Rates of Adherence and Virological Response

Treatment regimens including sofosbuvir (SOF), even prescriptions of 50% of the full course, can lead to high rates of sustained virological response in patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV), according to new research.

HCV treatment with oral direct-acting antiviral agents leads to sustained virological response in most patients. However, adherence to newer SOF-based treatments is unknown.
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To examine these adherence rates, the researchers analyzed data from HCV-infected patients who were initiated on SOF-based treatments and were registered in the Electronically Retrieved Cohort of HCV Infected Veterans.

The researchers used pharmacy prescription data to measure adherence rates and excluded from analysis patients with human immunodeficiency virus, positive hepatitis-B surface antigen, hepatocellular carcinoma, and missing HCV RNA.

For their analysis, the researchers included 1050 patients taking SOF-simeprevir (SIM), 974 patients taking SOF-ledipasvir (LDV), 663 patients with HCV genotype 2 or 3 taking SOF-ribavirin (RBV), and 519 patients with genotype 1 or 4 taking SOF-pegylated interferon (PEG) plus RBV.

The sustained virological response rates of patients in the SOF-SIM and SOF-LDV groups did not decline significantly even when as little as 50% of the full course was prescribed.

Of the patients with genotype 2 or 3 who received 50% to 80% of their SOF-RBV prescriptions, 67.6% achieved sustained virological response.

For those with genotype 1 or 4 taking the SOF-PEG-RBV regimen, no declines were seen, even with lower prescription rates.

“Sofosbuvir-based treatment regimens are highly effective in achieving [sustained virological response],” the researchers conclude. “This efficacy is not significantly affected when treated persons receive less than a full prescribed course of treatment.”

—Amanda Balbi

Reference:

Butt AA, Yan P, Shaikh OS, Chung RT, Sherman KE; for the ERCHIVES study. Treatment adherence and virological response rates in hepatitis C virus infected persons treated with sofocbuvir-based regimens: results from ERCHIVES. Liver Int. 2016;36(9):1275-1283. doi:10.1111/liv.13103.