Having resistance to a particular class of hepatitis C virus (HCV) drugs does not affect the likelihood of a cure among those with genotype 1 treated with AbbVie’s Viekira Pak (ombitasvir/paritaprevir/ritonavir; dasabuvir). Researchers conducted a post hoc analysis of data from five completed Phase III trials of people with genotype 1 of HCV who took Viekira Pak. Findings were presented at the 51st International Liver Congress in Barcelona.

The studies included PEARL-IV (including 90 treatment-naive people with genotype 1a), SAPPHIRE-II (214 people with genotype 1a who had previously taken interferon and ribavirin–based treatment), TURQUOISE-II (118 people with genotype 1a and compensated cirrhosis, treated for 24 weeks), PEARL-II (89 people with genotype 1b previously treated with interferon and ribavirin–based treatment), and TURQUOISE-III (59 people with genotype 1b and compensated cirrhosis). People who were not cured for reasons outside of virologic failure were excluded from the analysis.

Regardless of whether individuals with genotype 1b had resistance to NS5A inhibitors, those who took 12 weeks of Viekira Pak all still achieved a sustained virologic response 12 weeks after completing therapy (SVR12, considered a cure); 148 of 148 were cured. (Ombitasvir, one of the drugs in Viekira Pak, is an NS5A inhibitor.) Among those with genotype 1b, having such resistance did not change the cure rate; 57 of 59 of those with such resistance and 351 of 361 of those without such resistance were cured, for an SVR rate of 97 percent in both groups.

To read a press release about the study, click here.