MAVIRET was already indicated as an 8-week, pan-genotypic (GT1-6), once-daily regimen for treatment-naïve HCV patients without cirrhosis, and as an 8-week, once-daily regimen for treatment-naïve GT 1, 2, 4, 5 and 6 HCV patients with compensated cirrhosis.
“A shorter treatment duration means that more patients with HCV can be treated with an 8-week course of MAVIRET in the absence of initial tests to determine their genotype or degree of fibrosis or cirrhosis,” said Janet Hammond M.D., Ph.D., vice president, general medicine and virology therapeutic area, AbbVie. “The ability to streamline pre-treatment assessment for people with HCV represents a paradigm shift in the way the disease is treated, potentially accelerating the care cascade and allowing us to make greater strides towards achieving the World Health Organization’s goal of eliminating HCV by 2030.”
The EC approval is supported by data from the Phase 3b EXPEDITION-8 study. The Phase 3b EXPEDITION-8 study evaluated the safety and efficacy of MAVIRET in treatment-naïve chronic HCV patients with compensated cirrhosis across all major genotypes (GT1-6). The results have been reported for GT1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 (n=343) patients2 and showed that with 8 weeks of MAVIRET, 97.7 percent (n=335/343) of GT1- 6 patients achieved a sustained virologic response 12 weeks after treatment (SVR12) (ITT). For patients with GT3, the SVR12 rate was 95.2% (n= 60/63) (ITT).
To date, one virologic failure has been reported and no patients have discontinued treatment due to adverse events. In the study, most patients that did not achieve SVR12 were lost to follow up versus experiencing treatment failure, and no new safety signals were identified.
“Despite hepatitis C now being curable, there are millions of people in Europe who are chronically infected with the virus. Many of these patients have never received treatment, often because they have been unable to navigate the practical and clinical complexities of the treatment journey,” said Stefan Zeuzem, M.D., chief of the department of medicine at the J.W. Goethe University Hospital in Frankfurt, Germany. “A shorter-duration therapeutic option and simplified pre-treatment approach can eliminate the need for extra tests and help significantly more people overcome their very real treatment barriers.”
In the World Health Organization (WHO) European Region, 14 million people are estimated to be chronically infected with the hepatitis C virus and many of them are unaware that they are infected.3 Each year 112,500 people die from hepatitis C-related liver disease.
Source: Company Press Release