People who inject drugs (PWID) can adhere well to hepatitis C virus (HCV) regimens, and in a recent study of Epclusa (sofosbuvir/velpatasvir), they were cured at a high rate, Medscape reports.

Presenting their findings at the Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases in San Francisco (The Liver Meeting), researchers enrolled 100 PWID in a study of Epclusa. The participants were recruited at syringe services programs.

Seventy-six percent of the participants were male, 93 percent were African American, 92 percent had a history of incarceration and 51 percent were unstably housed. The median age of the study members was 57 years old.

At their study screening visit,  58 percent said they injected opioids at least once per day, 29 percent said they had shared injection drug materials during the previous three months and 40 percent said they engaged in risky alcohol use.

Thus far, 59 of the study members have completed the 12 weeks of treatment. All but one attended a follow-up visit 12 weeks later. Of that group of 58 people, 52 achieved a sustained virologic response 12 weeks after completing therapy (SVR12, considered a cure), for a cure rate of 89.7 percent.

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