Nearly all people with genotype 1b of hepatitis C virus (HCV) in a recent trial were cured after just eight weeks of Viekira Pak (ombitasvir/paritaprevir/ritonavir; dasabuvir), rather than the standard 12 or 24 weeks, HIVandHepatitis.com reports.

Researchers presented findings from the Phase III GARNET trial at the EASL special conference New Perspectives in Hepatitis C Virus Infection—The Roadmap for Cure in Paris. The trial enrolled 166 people with hep C who had not been treated for the virus before and who did not have HIV, hepatitis B virus (HBV) or cirrhosis.

Ninety-eight percent of the participants had genotype 1b of hep C.

The participants were treated with Viekira Pak for eight weeks. Ninety-eight percent of those who took at least one dose of treatment achieved a sustained virologic response 12 weeks after completing therapy (SVR12, considered a cure). In an analysis that excluded those without genotype 1b and one person who stopped treatment early, 99 percent were cured.

Those who started the study with a hep C viral load greater than 6 million had a cure rate of 92 percent. For those with absent to moderate fibrosis, the cure rate was 99 percent. Just 87 percent of those with advanced fibrosis were cured.

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