Patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotype 3 infection have shown resistance to direct-acting antiviral (DAA) treatments. However, a meta-analysis of 34 research reports found that DAA combo treatment can be effective in achieving sustained virologic response (SVR) in patients with HCV genotype 3, according to a study published online in Annals of Hepatology .
This study aimed to analyze the effectiveness of four regimens: sofosbuvir (SOF)/daclatasvir (DCV) with or without ribavirin (RBV); SOF/velpatasvir (VEL) with or without RBV; SOF/VEL/voxilaprevir (VOX);and glecaprevir (GLE)/pibrentasvir (PIB) in the treatment of HCV genotype 3–infected patients in real-world situations, according to Liwei Zhuang , of Beijing Ditan Hospital, Capital Medical University, and colleagues.
A total of 34 studies, comprising 7,328 patients from 22 countries, met the inclusion criteria and formed the basis of the analysis.
Promising results
The pooled SVR rate after 12 or 24 weeks of treatment for the four regimens was 92.1%.
For each regimen, the SVR rate was 91.2% in patients treated with SOF/DCV with or without RBV; 95.1% in patients treated with SOF/VEL with or without RBV; 85.0% in patients treated with SOF/VEL/VOX; and 98.5% in patients treated with GLE/PIB.
In addition, the pooled SVR rate of the four regimens was 95.2% in patients without cirrhosis and 89.4% in patients with cirrhosis, and the pooled SVR rate was 94.4% in treatment-naive patients and 88.0% in treatment-experienced patients. All results were within 95% confidence intervals.
The researchers pointed out that their meta-analysis had limitations. “We think that no strong conclusions can be drawn due to high heterogeneity in four DAA regimens administration in real-world setting from 22 countries, as well as small numbers of patients treated with SOF + VEL + VOX and GLE + PIB. More studies are needed in the future in order to better analyze the antiviral effectiveness of DAAs in GT3 HCV patients in real-world studies,” they authors stated.
However, they also concluded that “the antiviral effectiveness of treatment regimens for HCV-GT3 [genotype 3] infection, including SOF + DCV ± RBV, SOF + VEL ± RBV, GLE + PIB, and SOF + VEL + VOX, was good. The SVR rate of GLE + PIB was higher, and the treatment duration was shorter than other regimens.”
The study was funded by the Chinese government and public institutions. The authors reported that they had no conflicts of interest.
SOURCE: Zhuang L et al. Ann Hepatol. 2020 Oct 12. doi: 10.1016/j.aohep.2020.09.012 .