Fast facts on the new Hep C drugs

Professor Lisa Nissen, Debbie Rigby and Chris Campbell’s fast facts on the new Hepatitis C drugs…

In Australia it is estimated that more than 230,000 patients were living with chronic hepatitis C in 2012 yet less than 2% were receiving treatment.

• For many patients disclosing that they have hepatitis C it is not easy and so they may not have told you, or their family or friends[1]
• There may be a number of your customers who have chronic hepatitis C infection, but you won’t necessarily know who they are.

Patients need to know their hepatitis C genotype as different treatments are indicated for different genotypes[2]

• 54% of chronic hepatitis C patients in Australia have genotype 1 and 37% have genotype 3^2,[3]
• Patients are screened for their genotype when they are tested for hepatitis C.

There has been an advance from injectable interferon-based treatments for chronic hepatitis C to several new oral treatments registered in Australia for treatment of hepatitis C genotype 1 and 3 infections. These new generation direct acting antiviral (DAA) regimens are oral regimes and do not usually require interferon.^2,4

Treatment duration for most patients on these new oral hepatitis C treatments is 12 weeks, and virological cure rates of >90%* have been seen in clinical trials for these treatments.⁴
* Cure defined as <25 IU/mL HCV RNA 12 weeks post end-of-treatment (SVR12)

The new oral hepatitis C treatments are generally well tolerated with low rates of serious adverse events and discontinuation due to adverse events.^2,4 There are important safety considerations with the new generation DAAs, including important drug-drug interactions that must be considered prior to starting treatment.4

Several new oral treatments for hepatitis C have received positive recommendations from the PBAC and some will be reimbursed on the PBS from 1^st5

Patients who are concerned about their risk of hepatitis C or who wish to discuss their treatment options should be advised to contact their doctor or a liver specialist or call the Hepatitis Australia Helpline