Gilead Sciences’ investigational triple-drug hepatitis C virus (HCV) treatment sofosbuvir/velpatasvir/voxilaprevir performed well among those with genotype 3 of the virus and compensated cirrhosis in a recent large trial, aidsmap reports.

Researchers from the open-label Phase III POLARIS-3 study compared eight weeks of the triple-drug regimen with 12 weeks of Epclusa (sofosbuvir/velpatasvir) among 219 people with genotype 3 and compensated cirrhosis, about a third of whom had been treated before with interferon but not with direct-acting antivirals.

Among the participants who had been treated before, 96 percent of those who took eight weeks of the triple-drug treatment achieved a sustained virologic response 12 weeks after completing therapy (SVR12, considered a cure), compared with 99 percent of those who received Epclusa. The respective cure rates for those who had been treated before were 97 percent and 91 percent.

The regimens were well tolerated. No one experienced a serious adverse health event, and only one person, who was in the Epclusa group, stopped treatment because of an adverse health event. Nausea and diarrhea were more common among those in the triple-drug group.

To read the aidsmap article, click here.