An eight-week treatment of Gilead Sciences’ hepatitis C virus (HCV) treatment Harvoni (ledipasvir/sofosbuvir) has demonstrated excellent results in a real-world trial, aidsmap reports. Researchers reported an analysis of an eight-week Harvoni regimen given to 148 participants in the German real-world GECCO cohort. Results were presented at the 15th European AIDS Conference in Barcelona, Spain.

Twelve or 24 weeks of Harvoni is recommended for many people with hep C, while eight weeks is recommended for those with genotype 1 of the virus who have not been treated before, who do not have cirrhosis and who have a low viral load.

Ninety-seven percent of the GECCO participants included in this analysis had genotype 1; 2 percent had genotype 4. The median viral load before treatment was 810,000. Eighteen percent had been treated before and 3 percent had cirrhosis. Nineteen percent of the participants were coinfected with HIV.

A total of 104 out of 105 (99 percent) of the participants who have completed four weeks of post-treatment follow-up have achieved a sustained virologic response. An SVR4, as this milestone is known, is a very good indication that an individual will pass another eight weeks without a viral rebound and achieve an SVR12, which is considered a cure.

Seventy participants have completed 12 weeks of post-cure follow-up. Just one of them had a detectable viral load at that point, for an SVR12 rate of 98.5 percent.

To read the aidsmap article, click here.