Remaining Undetected

[steven_myers]

I finished up my 12 week Harvoni treatment 6 weeks ago. I showed undetected 6 weeks in and also at the end of treatment. What are the chances of remaining undetected 12 weeks after completing treatment? I'm trying to put my mind at ease. These 12 weeks are dragging...

[gnatcatcher]

Steven, your chances are around 99%: see Tables 8 - 10 in the prescribing information booklet that came with your pill bottles. And, once you're cured (you've reached SVR12), there's less than 0.17% (5/3004 = 0.001664) that you'd relapse between 12 weeks and 24 weeks after treatment:
https://www.hepmag.com/article/late-viral-relapse-hepatitis-c-treatment-rare

[sherfire]

Yeah man, your chances are really high. Greater than 90%. You're gonna be fine. Don't worry. Seriously!

[steven_myers]

Would it be safe to say that having my post treatment labs done at 8 weeks would yield the same results as having them done at 8 weeks?

[lporterrn]

They are very likely going to be the same, but the 12 week post-treatment lab is where you can breathe that final sigh of relief.

[gnatcatcher]

Only a 12 week post-treatment viral load of "undetected" is officially referred to as a cure (also known as "sustained viralogic response 12," or SVR12). Your insurance might even refuse to pay for an earlier test (they're not cheap), because Harvoni has been around long enough now that data-driven consensus has been reached about the definition of a cure: undetected viral load at 12 weeks after the end of treatment.

[steven_myers]

Thanks for the info. I will hold out for 12 weeks. 6 more to go!

[Mugwump]

I did not receive an EOT test in May 2015. The reason for this was that there was a world wide shortage of test kits when Harvoni first hit the streets. I can assure you that being weakly detected at 4 weeks of treatment then only finding out after 37 weeks that Harvoni had worked was a rough ride to say the least.

I can look back now and still feel the fear that I started to develop, having already failed treatment in 2004 and being almost undetected at the end of 48 weeks of interferon and ribavirin.

The only way you might not clear is if you have a strain of HCV that is resistant. However it seems the chances are greater than 95% that you do not so if you are amongst the unfortunate 5% that have Harvoni resistant HCV the tests should be done immediately for this aspect if you do not achieve SVR cured in a few more weeks.

If your doctor put you on Harvoni and did resistance testing first then your chances of SVR cured are even better than 95%. It would make sense, from an insurance company stand point at least, to do the resistance testing in advance. Because unless Gilead is refunding them the cash for treatment failures or giving deep discounts on the ensuing re-treatments, which I highly doubt, the costs would not be in anyones best interests.

I know that my mind played the usual tricks on me during the long wait for test results that I endured, if I had not done things other than count the days till the test results came in I am sure it would have been even worse!

Take some time to smell the roses while you wait and most of all do the things you love to do and do a few that you have put on hold as well.

Cheers
Eric