Has anyone tried the new treatment?

[konstan]

Hello,i m writing about my mother.she is 50 years old and she has hep c genome 1b for more than 20 years.unfortunately the use of pegylated interferon and ribavirin(the standard treatment) for 9 months didnt bring us the news we had been waiting for.she did the treatment 12 years ago..it is a fact that after the latest examinations we figured out that there is only one way.. to try the new treatment..we r not sure which product my mother will use plus the standard treatment(either merck's or vertex) but she ll start shortly in less than 10 days..

i wish to know if there is anyone here who has already tried the new therapy.
any other info is welcomed.

[Tim Horn]

Hi Konstan...

It's somewhat difficult to say which hep C protease inhibitor -- either Vertex's Incivek or Merck's Victrelis -- is "better" or "safer," given that these drugs haven't been tested head-to-head in clinical trials. But we definitely know a few things about both drugs:

1) They both need to be taken every eight hours with food.

2) With Victerlis, therapy involves starting pegylated interferon/ribavirin alone for four weeks, with Victrelis then added for the remainder of therapy. With Incivek, the three drugs are starteda at the same time.

3) Overall, in people with genotype 1 HCV starting therapy for the first time, cure rates were between 63 and 66 percent using Victrelis and 72 to 79 percent using Incivek.

4) In folks who weren't cured using pegylated inteferon/ribavirin in the past -- your mom is in this category -- we know that retreatment with Incivek plus pegylated/interferon cures 83 to 89 percent of relapsers (those who saw their HCV levels rebound from undetectable levels after their previous treatment was stopped), 54 to 59 percent of partial responders (individuals who see their HCV levels decrease by at least 99 percent by the 12th week of a previous treatment regimen, but were not able to achieve an undetectable viral load at the end of treatment) and 29 to 33 percent of null responders (those who didn't see a 99 percent reduction in their HCV levels during previous treatment). As for Victrelis, cures have been achieved in 70 to 75 percent of relapsers and 40 to 52 percent of previous responders. Victrelis hasn't been studied in previous null responders.

5) The length of treatment will depend on your mom's viral load during the first several weeks of therapy, her previous treatment failure category (e.g., relapser, partial responder, null responder) and the extent of fibrosis.

6) Side effects differ somewhat. In addition to the side effects of pegylated interferon, Victrelis can cause anemia (reduced red blood cell function), neutropenia (can increase the risk of bacterial infections), thrombocytopenia (low platelets), dysgeusia (altered taste), dry mouth, vomiting and diarrhea. Incivek, on the other hand, can cause rash (sometimes severe), itching, anemia, ano-rectal itching and burning, hemorrhoids, elevated bilirubin (which can cause yellowing of the skin and eyes), gout, thrombocytopenia and neausea/diarrhea.

A lot of information to process, I know (you can learn a bit more here), but the bottom line is that either drug -- again, depending on specific to your mom -- will undoubtedly improve her odds of curing the virus the second time around.

If you have any specific questions, please don't hesitate to drop another line here.

Tim Horn