HCV Cure Rates High in HIV Coinfection With Integrated Healthcare Program

HealthDay News — For patients in an urban clinic with hepatitis C virus (HCV) with HIV coinfection, HCV treatment is effective with standardized nurse/pharmacist support, according to a study published in Hepatology.

Oluwaseun Falade-Nwulia, MBBS, MPH, from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, and colleagues examined HCV treatment outcomes among 255 HCV coinfected patients (88% black) initiating direct-acting antivirals between February 2014 and March 2016 in an urban clinic. Patients received standardized HIV nurse/pharmacist support, which included telephone calls and nurse visits.

The researchers found that 60% of participants had significant fibrosis and 30% had received treatment for HCV. Ninety-one percent of patients received ledipasvir/sofosbuvir with or without ribavirin and received 12 weeks of treatment. The sustained virologic response rate was 97%, with no variation by race (black and non-black, 96% and 97%, respectively), history of drug use, alcohol use, or psychiatric diagnosis.

“HCV treatment was highly effective among HIV-infected patients who received care within an integrated nurse/pharmacist adherence support program,” the authors write. “These results suggest that race and psychosocial comorbidity may not be barriers to HCV elimination.”

Reference

Falade-Nwulia O, Sutcliffe C, Moon J, et al. High hepatitis C cure rates among black and non-black HIV infected adults in an urban center [published online June 13, 2017]. Hepatology. doi: 10.1002/hep.29308