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Hepatitis C Treatment Times Cut in Half, Still Effective

Analysis  |  By John Commins  
   November 14, 2018

Models show that personalized patient drug regimens can reduce treatment times and save money without jeopardizing efficacy.

The high-cost, highly effective 12-week drug regimen used to treat and often cure hepatitis C was reduced by up to six weeks for some patients without compromising outcomes, a new study shows.

"There's a potential to save up to 20% of the costs of hepatitis C drugs," said study co-first author Harel Dahari, a researcher at Loyola Medicine.

In addition to cutting costs, Dahari said shorter treatment regimens would help hepatitis C patients with limited health insurance benefits.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that about 2.5 million Americans have hepatitis C, and that the disease accounts for more than 18,000 deaths annually, although that number is believed to be underreported.

A highly effective array of new drugs that cure more than 90% of hepatitis C patients can cost more than $50,000 per patient. However, as new drugs enter the market, such as oral medications called direct acting anti-virals, prices are continuing to drop.

The Loyola-led study, presented this week during the annual meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases in San Francisco, used modeling-based response-guided therapy to reduce treatment times for half the 22 patients in a control group.

After the patients had undergone treatment for a few weeks, researchers measured how much hepatitis C virus levels had decreased. They used mathematical modeling to estimate how long it would take to completely eliminate the virus.

The modeling predicted that treatment could be shortened to 10 weeks for one patient, eight weeks for eight patients, and six weeks for two patients. The remaining 11 patients needed the standard 12-week regimen.

Within the control group, 21 patients remained virus-free. The only patient who relapsed had the most difficult-to-treat form of the hepatitis C virus, known as genotype 3.  

The proof-of-concept pilot study showed that using response-guided therapy to reduce treatment times is feasible. To validate the results, a large multicenter trial is underway in Israel.

The study was supported in part by the National Institutes of Health and Clalit, a health service organization in Israel.

“There's a potential to save up to 20% of the costs of hepatitis C drugs.”

John Commins is a content specialist and online news editor for HealthLeaders, a Simplify Compliance brand.


KEY TAKEAWAYS

Many patients may need less than the standard 12-week drug treatment period to be cured of hepatitis C.

Shorter treatment periods have the potential to save tens of millions of dollars in drug costs.


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