Via practica 6/2011

Triple therapy with protease inhibitors – new standard of care in chronic hepatitis C treatment

In the last ten years the treatment with pegylated interferon alfa and ribavirin became a standard of care for chronic hepatitis C (CHC). Despite its indisputable contribution, more than a half of patients remain uncured; mainly those infected with genotype 1 hepatitis C virus. Introducing the new direct acting antivirals from the protease inhibitor group – telaprevir and boceprevir – into practice, results in a substantial improvement of patient‘s prognosis. The increased number of patients achieving sustained virological response in previously untreated as well as treated patients is accompanied by increased incidence of side effects and higher costs. Therefore it is necessary to insure appropriate patient management, starting with rational indication of antiviral therapy, followed by observation and treatment of side effects, up to monitoring of virological response with consequences for further treatment options. The triple therapy with protease inhibitors can be viewed as a new optimal treatment approach in patients with genotype 1 CHC.

Keywords: chronic hepatitis C, treatment, protease inhibitors, telaprevir, boceprevir