Eight weeks of Merck’s fixed-dose combination tablet, grazoprevir/elbasvir, plus Gilead Sciences’ Sovaldi (sofosbuvir) cured high rates of people with genotype 1 or 3 of hepatitis C virus (HCV) in a small trial. The Phase II, open-label C-SWIFT trial gave the regimen to treatment-naive people for various lengths of time.

Those with genotype 1 were treated for 4 weeks if they were non-cirrhotic and 6 or 8 weeks if they were cirrhotic. Those with genotype 3 were treated for 8 weeks if they were cirrhotic and 8 or 12 weeks if they were non-cirrhotic.

Results were reported at the 50th International Liver Congress in Vienna, Austria.

Among the non-cirrhotic people with genotype 1 of hep C, 33 percent (10 of 30) of those treated for four weeks achieved a sustained virologic response 12 weeks after completing therapy (SVR12, considered a cure), as did 87 percent (26 of 30) of those treated for 6 weeks. Among the cirrhotic people with genotype 1, 80 percent (16 of 20) of those treated for 6 weeks were cured, as were 94 percent (17 of 18) of those treated for 8 weeks.

Among the non-cirrhotic people with genotype 3, 93 percent (14 of 15) or those treated for 8 weeks were cured, as were 100 percent (14 of 14) of those treated for 12 weeks. Ninety-one percent (10 of 11) of the cirrhotic people with genotype 3 were cured.

To read the Merck press release, click here.