BOSTON – Specifically in patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotype 3 infection and compensated cirrhosis, glecaprevir/pibrentasvir (Mavyret) was safe and had high efficacy in a phase 3 clinical trial, echoing an earlier report describing clinical results for the fixed-dose combination in multiple other genotypes.
Treatment with glecaprevir/pibrentasvir was safe and produced high rates of sustained virologic response 12 weeks after treatment (SVR12) for the genotype 3 patients and compensated cirrhosis in the recent results from the EXPEDITION-8 study, which will be presented at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases.
In a previous report from EXPEDITION-8, investigators said that the treatment was well tolerated and effective in patients with HCV genotypes 1, 2, 4, 5, and 6.
“The availability of an 8-week, pangenotypic regimen for all treatment-naive HCV-infected patients regardless of cirrhosis status may simplify the HCV care pathway, furthering progress towards HCV elimination,” said investigator Robert S. Brown Jr., MD, MPH, and coinvestigators in a late-breaking abstract of the latest study results.
The nonrandomized, multicenter, phase 3b study included 343 adults with HCV genotypes 1-6 who received glecaprevir 300 mg and pibrentasvir 120 mg once daily for 8 weeks. A total of 63% of patients were male, 83% were white; 18% had HCV genotype 3, while the majority (67%) had HCV genotype 1.
For the genotype 3 patients, SVR12 rates were 95.2% in the intention-to-treat population, and 98.4% in the per-protocol population, Dr. Brown and coauthors said in their report on the study. For genotype 1, 2, 4, 5, and 6 patients, the intention-to-treat and per-protocol SVR12 rates were 98.2% and 100%.
Taken together, the SVR12 rates for all genotypes were 97.7% and 99.7%, respectively, for the intention-to-treat and per-protocol populations, according to the investigators.
There were no virologic failures on treatment, and one patients with genotype 3 relapsed in week 4 posttreatment, while one genotype 1 patient discontinued treatment though not because of adverse events, they said.
Most adverse events were grade 1 in severity, and included fatigue, pruritus, headache, and nausea. There were no liver-related toxicities, and no serious adverse events that were related to the study treatment, according to the investigators.
Glecaprevir/pibrentasvir is indicated for patients aged 12 years and older with treatment-naive HCV genotype 1-6 infection without cirrhosis or with compensated cirrhosis, and in patients with HCV genotype 1 infection previously treated with an HCV NS5A inhibitor or an NS3/4A protease inhibitor.
Dr. Brown reported disclosures related to pharmaceutical companies including AbbVie, which markets Mavyret.
SOURCE: Brown RS et al. The Liver Meeting 2019. Abstract LP9.