Hepatitis C Support Group
Hepatitis C is a blood-borne viral disease which can cause liver inflammation, fibrosis, cirrhosis and liver cancer. The hepatitis C virus (HCV) is spread by blood-to-blood contact with an infected person's blood. Many people with HCV infection have no symptoms and are unaware of the need to seek treatment. Hepatitis C infects an estimated 150-200 million people worldwide.
In a reply, I made some comment about ,
the new drugs and how they relate to
type 2&3 hep c. I was wrong here is the facts.
(because all the new drugs are being developed primarily for genotype 1)
Dr. Norah Terrault, director of the Viral Hepatitis Center at the University of California, San Francisco, spoke at a recent conference on the pros and cons of treating vs. delaying treatment of hepatitis C in patients co-infected with HIV. The co-infected patients whose hepatitis C she generally treats without delay include any with genotypes 2 or 3 hepatitis C (because all the new drugs are being developed primarily for genotype 1), patients with low levels of hepatitis C RNA regardless of genotype (because they're the most likely to achieve a sustained viral response to therapy), patients with advanced fibrosis (because "they can't wait for new treatments") , and patients with acute (not chronic) hepatitis C who are on stable antiretroviral therapy with no opportunistic infections and CD4 counts above 200 cells per cubic millimeter.
the new drugs and how they relate to
type 2&3 hep c. I was wrong here is the facts.
(because all the new drugs are being developed primarily for genotype 1)
Dr. Norah Terrault, director of the Viral Hepatitis Center at the University of California, San Francisco, spoke at a recent conference on the pros and cons of treating vs. delaying treatment of hepatitis C in patients co-infected with HIV. The co-infected patients whose hepatitis C she generally treats without delay include any with genotypes 2 or 3 hepatitis C (because all the new drugs are being developed primarily for genotype 1), patients with low levels of hepatitis C RNA regardless of genotype (because they're the most likely to achieve a sustained viral response to therapy), patients with advanced fibrosis (because "they can't wait for new treatments") , and patients with acute (not chronic) hepatitis C who are on stable antiretroviral therapy with no opportunistic infections and CD4 counts above 200 cells per cubic millimeter.
Thank you Greg for pesting the correction. Keeps me from pointless hopes.
Sandye, you may have read that it will help somewhere. People keep assuming the new stuff will work with all genos. I keep doing the broken record thing say my NP says the new meds are geno specific for geno 1.
Here are a couple of sites you can read for yourself. There has been less success for Geno 3's than 2's.
http://www.thebody.com/Forums/AIDS/Hepatitis/Current/Q206562.html
http://www.natap.org/2009/EASL/EASL_13.htm
to get something going.
So we now know that
Telaprevir Effective for Genotype 2 But Not For Genotype 3
Oral Presentation: Telaprevir Demonstrates Potency Against Genotype 2, 3 and 4 in vitro
Chao Lin, Ph.D., of Vertex, will present an abstract titled, "Telaprevir (VX-950) is a Potent Inhibitor of HCV-NS3 Proteases Derived from Genotype Non-1 HCV-Infected Patients" at 6:15 p.m. CEST (12:15 p.m. EDT) on Thursday, April 12.
"While genotype 1 accounts for the majority of hepatitis C cases, the proportion of those living with genotypes 2, 3 and 4 is significant," continued Dr. Alam. "In this in vitro study, telaprevir demonstrated similar potency against the NS3-4A protease derived from those patients with genotype 2, 3 and 4 to the in vitro results demonstrated with telaprevir in genotype 1. These results support our plans to begin to study telaprevir in genotypes 2, 3 and 4 in 2007."
http://www.natap.org/2007/EASL/EASL_02.htm
Interim data from two Phase 2 studies (C209 and C210) in treatment-nave HCV patients show substantial antiviral activity
against HCV genotypes 2 and 4 when telaprevir is combined with the standard of care compared with standard of care alone.
Across both studies, HCV genotype 2, 3 and 4 patients were randomized into one of three arms to receive 15 days of telaprevir
alone, telaprevir in combination with pegylated interferon (peg-IFN) and ribavirin (RBV), or peg-IFN and RBV alone. A 5.3, 4.7
and 3.4 log10 IU/mL mean plasma HCV RNA reduction was achieved after 15 days of telaprevir, peg-IFN and RBV treatment as
compared to a 4.0, 4.5 and 2.0 log10 IU/mL mean plasma HCV RNA reduction in the control peg-IFN plus RBV arms in HCV
genotype 2, 3 and 4 patients, respectively. 4/25/09
http://files.shareholder.com/downloads/VRTX/0x0x288743/bf0d8cb7-da05-40f7-894c-0f4d1e9bd408/VRTX_News_2009_4_21_Webcasts.pdf
If you don't know look it up
Thank you very much Lynn