Sovaldi/Olysio vs. Harvoni

[Todd4004]

Hello Everyone,

I'm on week 9 of S/O plus 1200 mg of ribavirin and so far everything is going well. There has been minimal side effects and I was undetectable at week 6.

I was just wondering if anyone happens to know is there is actually an effective difference between 400 mg of Sovaldi/150 mg of Olysio and Harvoni(which of course contains 400 mg of Sovaldi and 90 mg of Olysio)

I think from the studies that I've read that Harvoni works a little better but how can that be if it actually contains the same ingredients minus 60 mg of Olysio?

I appreciate your replies.

[Coach Mike]

Hi,
Harvoni has Sovaldi and Ledipasvir, not Olysio.  I'm no doctor, and don"t know how Olysio and Ledipasvir compare, but they are different.
Mike

[Todd4004]

Oh geeze, thanks for clearing that up for me. I guess I got confused with all the long weird names and how each drug has two of them.

Todd

[Lynn K]

It also depends on you individual treatment history and liver damage status

[Todd4004]

Hey Lynn,

Thanks for the info. This news is actually a bit disappointing to me cause I thought I was basically taking harvoni this whole time -- bit embarrassing really but no one really explained it to me and the long weird names confused me a bit.

I'm so sorry to hear that you relapsed on O/S at week 12. Was that week 12 as in EOT or 12 weeks after EOT? I'm actually starting to see that there are a few S/O patients who ended up relapsing.

I'm a big guy so I drink at least a gallon of water with lemon in it daily, eat as healthy as possible, take vitamin B12, and exercise about 2 hrs/5 days a week cause I'm an avid mountain biker. Is there anything else that you could recommend that I do to help avoid relapsing?

Congrats on finishing treatment here in a few days! I'm wishing you the best and an SVR 12 once and for all!

2008 - first detected
2013 - telaprevir nightmare
Feb 27, 2015 - S/O + 1200 mg ribavirin - 6,000,000 VC
April 11, 2015 - Und.
May 22, 2015 - EOT

[Lynn K]

I was treated for 12 weeks with Sov/Oly I was not detected at weeks 4 on treatment and week 12 EOT (end of treatment). Twelve weeks later I was tested and had relapsed.

Everyone who becomes UND on treatment will remain that way while being treated all failures that successfully completed treatment were relapse failures.

For a patient like me a multiple non responder to interferon based treatment with cirrhosis for 7 years the stats for Sov/Oly were more like about 85% rates of SVR 12 and it was a relatively small number of patients who were in those trials I think 24 total participants comes to mind for my cohort.

There is nothing you can do to avoid relapsing except take your meds every day as directed and don't take anything not approved by your doctor.

Especially do not take St Johns Wort or Milk thistle with Olysio it is on the prescribing information sheet of things to avoid while taking Olysio. Also be careful with sun exposure

https://www.olysio.com/shared/product/olysio/prescribing-information.pdf

Other than that positive mental attitude and hope for the best. The odds are in your favor you will beat hep c

[Lynn K]

Sovaldi is made by Gilead and Olysio is made by Janssen Therapeutic so when I used them it was off label as in not per prescription but it was known to be a useful combination. The can now be prescribed together with out as much hassle because it was approved by the FDA the be taken that way officially. Simeprevir is the generic name for Olysio

Gilead worked to develop Ledipasvir which it combined into a single pill combination of Ledipasvir 90 mg / Sofosbuvir 400 mg called Harvoni  (Sofosbuvir is the generic name name for Sovaldi)