Hepatitis C Virus (Treatment-Experienced, Cirrhotic) | Decision Base | US | 2015
How Will New Market Entrants Fare in the Rapidly Evolving Treatment Landscape?
Affecting at least 170 million people worldwide, chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections are a serious public health problem. Among patients with chronic HCV infections, those who have failed prior HCV therapy (i.e., treatment-experienced) and/or have advanced liver disease (cirrhosis) have been historically considered a difficult-to-treat patient subgroup. However, the growing availability of safe and highly effective interferon (IFN)-free regimens consisting of direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) has essentially equalized outcomes for treatment-experienced cirrhotics with those of treatment-naive, non-cirrhotic HCV patients. Despite the significant advantages offered by new treatment options for HCV, there remains high unmet need for more effective options for genotype-3 patients with cirrhosis. Further, extensive payer-imposed cost-containment measures have limited widespread access to these new therapies, and, as such, cost-effective options for treatment-experienced, cirrhotic HCV patients is another area of high unmet need.