New hepatitis C therapies approved in Europe

Patients with hepatitis C in Europe could soon gain access to two new pan-genotypic treatment options after the European Commission issued approval for AbbVie’s Maviret and Gilead’s Vosevi following an accelerated review. Maviret is a once-daily regimen that combines two distinct antiviral agents - the NS3/4A protease inhibitor glecaprevir (300mg) and NS5A inhibitor pibrentasvir (120mg) - dosed once-daily as three oral tablets and shown in trials to cure the virus in just eight weeks. Regulators are allowing its use to treat patients without cirrhosis and who are new to treatment, who comprise the majority of the 71 million people living with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection globally, as well as those with specific treatment challenges, including those with compensated cirrhosis, severe chronic kidney disease or genotype 3 HCV.