New and Noteworthy
Interactions with transplant drugs added to simeprevir product monograph
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently approved revisions to the product label information for the direct-acting anti-viral medication simeprevir, known by the brand name Galexos in Canada. The revisions highlighted drug interactions with cyclosporine and tacrolimus, which are used to prevent organ rejection after a transplant.
Transplant recipients are among the most in need of hepatitis C treatment as well as the most difficult to treat, in part due to complications related to other drugs they must take. (HIVandhepatitis.com, October 2014, in English)
Genotype 3 hepatitis C virus linked to higher risk of severe liver damage and liver cancer
People with genotype 3 hepatitis C virus are more likely to develop severe liver damage (cirrhosis) and liver cancer (hepatocellular carcinoma) than people with genotype 1, reported researchers in Hepatology.
The researchers compared the risk of developing cirrhosis and liver cancer by genotype in a large sample of U.S. Veterans (110 484 veterans). The risk of cirrhosis was 31% higher for people with genotype 3 hepatitis C virus than for people with genotype 1. The risk of liver cancer for people with genotype 3 was 80% higher than for people with genotype 1.
“Hepatitis C genotype 3 is associated with significantly increased risk of developing cirrhosis or hepatocellular carcinoma compared to hepatitis C genotype 1”, concluded the researchers. (HIVandhepatitis.com, October 2014, in English)
Age, sex and race linked to spontaneous hepatitis C virus clearance
African-Americans, as well as men and older people in general, were less likely to clear Hep C without treatment, reported researchers at IDWeek 2014 in Philadelphia.
It is estimated that 25% to 30% of people who get Hep C will clear the virus on their own, but this process is not well understood.
Researchers collected data from a random sample of people with a newly reported hepatitis C infection. The researchers wanted to assess whether people who cleared the virus spontaneously were different from those who didn’t. Of the 576 untreated people with hepatitis C, 15% (89 people) cleared the virus. People who did not clear the virus were more likely to be male, black versus Asian or white, and older than those who cleared the virus.
Participants who injected drugs, had spent time in prison, had a high number of lifetime sexual partners or were men who had male sex partners were less likely to spontaneously clear the hepatitis C virus. The researchers suspected that “the association between high-risk behaviors and reduced Hep C clearance may be explained by reinfection from recurrent exposure to different viral strains among groups with elevated rates of Hep C disease.” (HIVandhepatitis.com, October 2014, in English)