Drug Combination for Hepatitis C Shows Promise in Small Clinical Trial

Using an old drug along with low doses of a new drug can treat hepatitis C in people who do not respond to standard treatment, researchers found. The study also showed that the combination therapy doesn't have the side-effects associated with standard care for the disease.

About 2.7 million to 3.9 million Americans currently have chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection and the number of infected people is increasing each year. Many people who receive a liver transplant or are on the waiting-list for liver transplant have chronic HCV infection. HCV is also a major cause for liver cancer.

Researchers used interferon-free regimen of sofosbuvir and ribavirin to treat patients, according to a news release.

"Recent studies show that interferon-free, directly acting antiviral agent-only regimens can successfully achieve sustained virologic response (SVR); however, populations traditionally associated with poorer treatment outcomes have been underrepresented," researchers wrote.

The study was conducted by Anuoluwapo Osinusi, M.D., of the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Md., and colleagues. The team looked at the efficacy of sofosbuvir plus low-dose ribavirin in a group of people who had hard-to-treat Hepatitis C.

About 60 people participated in the study and depending on the dose of the drug used, 48 to 68 percent recovered from the infection.

Sofosbuvir is a new drug waiting for approval in the U.S. and Europe. The trial also removed interferon, which increases sleep problems, depression, muscle pain, fever and fatigue. Interferons are used in standard therapy for hepatitis C.

"This study demonstrates the efficacy of an interferon-free regimen in a traditionally difficult-to-treat population while exploring the reasons for treatment relapse. In this study, treatment of chronic HCV infection with a single directly acting antiviral agent (sofosbuvir) and weight-based ribavirin resulted in a high SVR rate in a population with unfavorable traditional predictors of treatment response compared with reported rates with currently used interferon-based therapy in similar populations," the researchers wrote in the journal.

The study is published in the journal JAMA.