Harvoni & Increased Blood Glucose Mentioned in Report

[KimInTheForest]

I am in Week 6 of 12 of Harvoni+Ribavirin and have noticed that my blood glucose levels have been above the normal range the entire time. (I am doing this through a trial so am closely monitored with frequent labs - one of the benefits of being in a trial).

I have no history of diabetes. No one on either side of my family has any history of diabetes. And I have never before seen my blood glucose outside the normal range in the 20 years I have been collecting copies of all my lab results. So I figured it has to be the drugs. (Have also been noticing some physical things that would suggest fluctuating glucose levels, and which I have never noticed prior to treatment).

This Health Canada document explaining the basis on which Harvoni was approved in Canada (for Geno 1 people) refers to 2 studies that show a correlation between Harvoni and elevated serum glucose: http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/dhp-mps/prodpharma/sbd-smd/drug-med/sbd_smd_2015_harvoni_173180-eng.php

Relevant info is under the summaries of the ION-2 and ION-3 Studies for Harvoni (or you can search the document for "glucose" and find the 5 occurrences).

ION-2: "The most common Grade 3 or 4 chemistry laboratory abnormalities across treatment groups were increased serum glucose (all patients had a history of diabetes, were taking diabetic medication, or had glucose intolerance at screening) and increased lipase."

ION-3: "The most common Grade 3 or 4 chemistry laboratory abnormalities across treatment groups were transient levels of increased lipase and increased serum glucose. None of the patients with lipase elevations had an AE [adverse event] of clinical pancreatitis or developed treatment-emergent clinical events of pancreatitis. The patients with Grade 3 or 4 increased serum glucose all had a history of diabetes, were taking diabetic medication, or had glucose intolerance at screening."

Back to me here (kim): I have no history of diabetes. But I am also not Grade 3 or 4 in my abnormal blood glucose - just Grade 1 (at 6.66 mmol/L as of Week 4).

So it DOES appear from this Health Canada document, and from my own experience, that Harvoni has a tendancy to elevate blood glucose. I am assuming my own elevated glucose will resolve to normal levels at end of treatment. Just another 6.5 weeks to go!

(I would appreciate it if the invalidators would think first before typing. Invalidation is toxic. Thanks.)

Wellness to all,
kim

[sabre]

My fasting glucose has been slightly elevated for about 20 years. I haven't tested while taking Harvoni, but after reading this, I may ask to have my glucose numbers run on the next blood draw.

Thanks for sharing, Kim.

[Philadelphia]

My blood glucose has been elevated during treatment, but an HgA1c showed normal results. It was slightly elevated before treatment but that was a non fasting test and only one result like that. All of a sudden Im getting readings of 11, 14 and 15. I'm on VP + RBV.

Perhaps it's something to do w treatment, perhaps old age, perhaps my liver, perhaps cirrhosis. Who knows?

My GP wants to medicate me. I'm not doing a thing until months after treatment. Give my body time to stabilise.