AbbVie’s Viekira Pak (ombitasvir/paritaprevir/ritonavir; dasabuvir), with or without ribavirin, appears to work very well curing genotype 1 of hepatitis C virus (HCV) among treatment-naive, non-cirrhotic people with severe kidney impairment. Researchers from the Phase IIIb RUBY-I study presented preliminary data from one arm of the trial at the 50th International Liver Congress in Vienna, Austria.

The ongoing study arm includes 20 people with stage 4 or 5 of kidney impairment, including those on dialysis. So far, 10 of them have reached the four-week mark after treatment, which lasted for 12 or 24 weeks based on their subgenotype. All 10 have achieved a sustained virologic response four weeks after completing therapy, or SVR4, which is a good indication that after another eight weeks they will achieve an SVR12 and be considered cured.

The participants experienced mainly mild or moderate side effects. The most common, occurring in more than 20 percent of cases, were anemia, fatigue, diarrhea, nausea, dizziness and headache.

To read the AbbVie press release, click here.