To evaluate the safety and efficacy of a daily, fixed-dose, 8-week course combination of Elbasvir/Grazoprevir in treatment-naïve, non-cirrhotic patients who are mono-infected with hepatitis C, genotype 4.
The treatment of hepatitis C has gone through significant advances in the last few years with the development of direct-acting antivirals "DAAs." Since 2013, many DAAs have been approved for the treatment of HCV with excellent efficacy and safety profiles. The major hurdle in treating patients on a large scale is the high cost of the current treatment regimens. Multiple approaches have been proposed, among them, a shortened treatment regimen of 6 to 8 weeks rather than the standard 12-week-regimen. The strategy of shortening the treatment will help in reducing the cost by 33% to 50%. Thus, it will increase the availability of the treatment to more patients. Zepatier is a combination drug of Elbasvir (EBR), an NS5A inhibitor, and Grazoprevir (GZR), a potent NS3/4A inhibitor. This study is being proposed to address two main issues. First, collecting information on the safety and efficacy of a shortened course of zepatier (8 weeks instead of the standard 12 weeks) in patients who are treatment-naïve, non-cirrhotic and mono-infected with HCV. Second, to investigate whether this course provides similar clinical outcomes to the standard regimen in HCV-Genotype 4, which is the most common genotype in Saudi Arabia.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
NA
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE
Enrollment
30
Daily, fixed-dose combination of Elbasvir 50 mg and Grazoprevir 100 mg given in a single oral tablet for 8 weeks.
King Fahad Medical City
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Sustained virologic response at 12 weeks after the end of intervention (SVR-12).
Viral RNA below the level of detection at 12 weeks after the end of the intervention. (Hepatitis C viral load evaluated by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) with a cutoff of 20 IU/mL for detectability.)
Time frame: At 12 weeks after the end of intervention.
Sustained virological response at 4 weeks after the end of intervention (SVR-4).
Hepatitis C viral RNA below the level of detection at 4 weeks after the end of the intervention.
Time frame: At 4 weeks after the end of intervention.
Serious and treatment-related adverse events.
Number of patients with serious and treatment-related adverse events based on the common terminology criteria (CTCAE 4.03), or death during the follow-up period.
Time frame: From the first day of intervention until the end of week 4 after the intervention is finished.
Changes in the quality of life: Hepatitis Quality of Life Questionnaire (HQLQ)
To assess this outcome, a self-administered questionnaire called the "Hepatitis Quality of Life Questionnaire" (HQLQ) will be used. The HQLQ is composed of 7 domains; the physical and mental components (PCS and MCS, respectively), a self-evaluated health transition item (SET), and four hepatitis-related items. The latter include general health distress (HD), psychological well-being (PWB), hepatitis-specific functional limitations (HLIM), and hepatitis-specific health distress (HHD) sub-scales. Higher numbers on each component/scale represent better results (e.g., better physical, emotional, and psychological functioning, and little to no limitations in these aspects). Higher scores on the self-evaluated transition item, however, represent less favorable results. These assessments will take place over three occasions. The first will be upon initiating the treatment, the second will be during/by the end of treatment, and the last will take place 12 weeks after the end of treatment.
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Time frame: Quality of life evaluations will take place over three occasions. The first will be at baseline (upon treatment initiation), the second will be during treatment/at the end of treatment, and the last will be 12 weeks after the end of treatment