Hepatitis Forums
Hepatitis C Main Forums => Considering Hepatitis C Treatment => Topic started by: Coach on August 07, 2017, 01:27:22 pm
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I took Solvaldi/Rib and relapsed. Vosevi was recently approved by FDA. Has anyone started it or have knowledge of when it will become available??
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Hi, Coach. Gilead is free to sell it, given that the FDA approved it on July 18: https://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm567467.htm The question is how quickly insurance companies will cover it. If yours isn't geared up to approve it, you might contact Gilead to see if Gilead will cover nearly all of the cost in your case. Gilead did just that for a lot of us soon after Harvoni was approved, probably to expedite building up market share.
I searched this site and didn't find anyone on Vosevi, but see this post by Gaj:
https://forums.hepmag.com/index.php?topic=5005.msg50990#msg50990
Good luck!
Gnatty
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Thanks Gnatty.
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The Vosevi was surprisingly easy to obtain. It is not yet listed as a specialty drug and I didn't need prior approval from the insurance company. Will be starting next week.
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Amazing! Every good wish to you.
Gnatty
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Alright Coach!
Congrats on getting treatment and good luck
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Hope you will be posting your experiences. I am very curious about Vosevi (and Mavyret). May you breeze your way to health and freedom.
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Thanks Lucinda, I'll keep everyone updated.
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Started the Vosevi this past weekend. My base numbers . HCV 329,600. HCV RT PCR 5.518 (not sure what this is) AST 33 and ALT 54. So far no sides.
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The 5.518 is just the 329,600 stated as a logarithm (base 10) for the convenience of doctors. Glad you're doing well.
Gnatty
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Into my 4th week of Vosevi and I am feeling great .. No side effects. Soo much better then the SOl/ Ribavarin which I had previously. My first blood work came back with Less then 15 viral count , which isn't undetectable but is way down from 329000 which was my base. it was a RNA quantative test so wondering what less then 15 means. ?? Also is this the more accurate test??
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Yes the RNA quantitative test is the best one to determine viral load. The <15 is the sensitivity of that test: if it detects 15 or more international units per ML of blood, it gives an actual number (like the 329,600 you had before treatment). Otherwise,
either
1. If it can't find any at all, the <15 sensitivity will be mentioned in the result, but it'll also say NOT DETECTED (or UNDETECTED or some such term).
or
2. If it finds some hep C, but less than 15 IU/ML, it'll show the <15 without any mention of undetected.
Either way, you are doing just fine. Your viral load is way down after three weeks or less of Vosevi. Glad you continue to feel great on treatment.
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That is wonderful!!!!!!!! Especially the ease of it.
One thing, some labs will state a result as <15 and leave off the word nondetectable or undetected, so if that word is missing, it doesn't necessarily mean that they found something in the low range. As Gnatty said, it is good news.
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Just started my 5th week of Vosevi , feeling really well . The only thing I need to do is drink plenty of water. Also got a letter from CVS specialty saying I have to go thru them for the rest of my script. I have to get one more months worth, so hopefully this is not a problem. Going for my 4 week BW tomorrow.
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Coach, glad you continue to feel really well. CVS specialty pharmacy supplied all three of my Harvoni bottles. The CNP supervising my treatment said to place each order as much ahead of time as CVS specialty pharmacy allowed, which worked out fine. Because it was summer, for bottles 2 and 3 I asked for (and got) ice packs, and CVS decided to use overnight shipping, so they came in plenty of time.
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Got back the BW for 4 weeks on Vosevi and I am cautiously optimistic ..(since I have been down this road before) . The Virus is now UNdetected. My AST-23, ALT-27. The only thing my Doc was a little concerned about was my Hemoglobin was 17.5 and Hematocrit 51.9 both slightly high. Not sure if this is related to meds or not. Doc said to contact my regular doc about this ?? Didn't seem worried. Still no sides, drinking plenty of water.. Feeling fortunate and lucky...
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Yessssss! Rooting for it to stay undetected forever.
If your regular doc is like mine, he won't be concerned about "slightly high." (My hemoglobin and hematocrit have sometimes been a little high.)
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This is news that is cause for alcohol-free celebration!!!!!!!
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The 8 week BW is in and everything is excellent AST 20 ALT 21. Feeling a little more tired during the day and a occasional mild headache in the afternoon, but a quick nap and an advil take care of it. Will be finishing up the meds on thanksgiving.
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Great news, Coach -- looks like you'll have a very happy thanksgiving!
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Fantastic news, and thanks for sharing your experience. That will be one heck of a Thanksgiving celebration.
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Great news coach
Rooting for great results for you!
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Thanks Everyone for all the support.
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I am finishing up the Vosevi this week. BW will be done on 11/27 , then I will be hoping for positive news over the next months/years / life... During my failed tx with sol/rib I continued my daily milk thistle 2000 mg and a Green Max powder. This time during Vosevi tx I did not take either one. I read somewhere that the MT protects the liver and might also protect it from the Vosevi?? Wondering about peoples thoughts on this and also if I am cured continuing to restart the MT. I don't think it can hurt in anyway and I do believe it has helped in the past.?????
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I don’t think milk thistle effected your treatment I believe because these meds are so new and they cannot know all possible interactions or interactions and because success is so important my thinking is just not to take anything you don’t have to.
I know when I failed treatment with Sovaldi and Olysio I wondered if I did anything to contribute to that failure but eventually decided I just had tough bugs.
I do not really subscribe to the effectiveness of milk thistle. I haven’t seen any solid evidence of effectiveness. I took milk thistle but my liver disease nonetheless continued to progress. So if you want to take milk thistle that is your decision of course. I believe it is neither helpful or harmful except for he money spent buying it making your wallet a bit lighter.
Wishing you all the best on your upcoming test results and finally being cured
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Finished up vosevi tx last week. BW results came back with excellent news undetected and all #s are where a healthy person should be.. Going back in 4 weeks to do more BW and hoping the undetected remains. Does anyone know how long the vosevi remains in the system. I feel great no longer dehydrated.
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About 5 half lives is standard for most medicines. A half-life is 1/2 of one dosing period so if you take a medicine daily a half-life is 12 hours. Then 5 half lives would be 60 hours or about 2 and a half days until all of a medication is gone from your system.
If the dosing period for a medicine is more often then the 5 half-lives would be proportionally reduced as well. So if you were taking a medicine every 4 hours then the time until it is gone from your system would be just 10 hours after your last dose.
If a chemical likes to store in fat cells like THC in marijuana for example then it takes longer. But this is not the case for the DAA’s they are excreted readily through urine and feces.
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Thank You.
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Coach, congratulations!
The specific half lives for the three medicines in Vosevi are shown here:
https://reference.medscape.com/drug/vosevi-sofosbuvir-velpatasvir-voxilaprevir-1000176#10
(The longest half life of the three is 33 hours.)
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So by my 5 half-lives rule of thumb about 3.5 days to have excreted the meds from your system.
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Hi Coach,
Congratulations on completing your Vosevi treatment. :)
To add a little “rough science”, the half life effect is complicated due to the drugs involved all being dosed every 24 hours and the minimum half life being 17 hours for Velpatasvir. This means there will have been some gradual build up of all three (to differing levels) over the course of tx.
Here is a rough calculation for Voxilaprevir which at 33 hrs half life is the longest and slowest to clear.
Half Life Voxilaprevir
EOT+ Level
33hr = 50%
66hr = 25%
99hr = 12.5%
132hr = 6.25%
165hr = 3.125% ~ 1 week
198hr = 1.6%
231hr = 0.8% = ~10 days
As you can see, after ~ 10 days the Voxilaprevir level will be down from EOT to less than 1%. (Sofosbuvir will be a little quicker and Velpatasvir will be down to less than 0.5% at that stage.)
So by the end of week 1 EOT the levels will be fairly low and after 2 weeks gone other than extremely small traces. This matches with my own experiences and those of other patients I have discussed this with, that being noticeable difference after one week and ‘back to normal’ after two.
Best wishes
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Yeah mine is just a tool for rough estimation. After 3.5 days you are approaching 12.5% so not a whole lot of drug left.
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Wonderful news Coach - thank you for sharing this with us. Waiting with you for the final results.
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Just Got back the test results for one month after tx. and It Is Still Undetected.Yes.Yes. Alt and Ast -16, Sono of the liver came back excellent.. Doc says I go back in 3 months for more BW. I thought it was sooner?? So psyched to see the results today, as the last time I did Sol/Rib it came back in the first month after tx... I know I'm not home yet , but I'm on my way.
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Congratulations, Coach! While the norm is that Undetected 12 weeks after the end of treatment is considered "cured," some doctors test at different times. An Undetected 17 weeks after the end of treatment is still labeled "cured" -- it just means you have to wait a little longer. Given that you relapsed in the past, you might be able to persuade your doctor to do the viral load at 12 weeks post.
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I'll see what he says. Thanks
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Congrats Coach!
I have seen stats that once you make SVR4 your odds of staying hep c free are about 98.5% so you are looking really good for being able to say soon that you are finally cured of hep c.
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Thanks Lynn.
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Vosevi worked for me. I was fortunate to get into a clinical trial study for this drug after treating with Harvoni and relapsing. I had very minor SE during a 12 week trial study and have been SVR since August 2016.
Good Luck !! You will be cured .
Fight the Good Fight
John
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Glad to hear it worked. There doesn't seem to be too many people that have experience with it. Thanks for the info.
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Just got back the results from 3 months after finishing Vosevi. Ast-19 Alt-19 and the viral count is UNDETECTED.. Thanks to all for your encouragement and support..
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Alright Coach!!!!!!
That is great and wonderful news
Congrats!! :)
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So glad!