Interferon-Based Therapy Reduces Liver Fibrosis Progression in HIV/HCV Coinfected Patients

Interferon-based treatment for chronic hepatitis C helps slow liver disease progression among HIV/HCV coinfected patients as it does for people with hepatitis C alone, according to study findings reported in the January 2012 Journal of Hepatology.

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CDC Offers New HIV and Hepatitis Coinfection Fact Sheet

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have produced a new fact sheet providing information about viral hepatitis in people with HIV.

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Combining HCV Med Boceprevir with Boosted HIV Protease Inhibitors Can Lower Drug Levels

HIV/HCV coinfected people who take the HCV protease inhibitor boceprevir (Victrelis) for hepatitis C treatment along with a ritonavir-boosted HIV protease inhibitor may experience drug-drug interactions that reduce concentrations of both drugs to ineffective levels, Merck warned this week.

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AASLD 2011: Upping Ribavirin Dose Does Not Increase Interferon Effectiveness in HIV/HCV Coinfected Patients

Starting hepatitis C treatment with a double dose of ribavirin plus erythropoietin to manage anemia did not lead to higher rates of sustained response to interferon-based therapy in HIV/HCV coinfected people, researchers reported at the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases Liver Meeting (AASLD 2011) this month in San Francisco.

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European Study Does Not See Rapid Long-Term Liver Fibrosis in HIV/HCV Coinfected People

People who are already HIV positive when they acquire hepatitis C virus (HCV) may not experience unusually rapid liver disease progression over the long term, even though the fibrosis progression rate may appear high during the acute stage of infection, according to a European FibroScan study described in the February 15, 2012, issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases.

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AASLD 2011: Telaprevir Improves Hepatitis C Treatment Response for HIV/HCV Coinfected People

Adding the hepatitis C virus (HCV) protease inhibitor telaprevir (Incivek) to pegylated interferon plus ribavirin increased virological response rates at 24 weeks for HIV/HCV coinfected patients, researchers reported at the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases Liver Meeting (AASLD 2011) this week in San Francisco.

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Experts Issue Provisional Guidance on New Hepatitis C Drugs for HIV/HCV Coinfected Patients

HIV and hepatitis C virus (HCV) experts have issued preliminary recommendations for the use of the new HCV protease inhibitors boceprevir (Victrelis) and telaprevir (Incivek) for HIV/HCV coinfected patients. Though not yet FDA-approved for this group, studies to date show that the drugs improve the likelihood of a cure for coinfected as well as HCV monoinfected people.

[Editors' note (2/27/12): the preliminary recommendations have been temporarily withdrawn and removed from the Clinical Infectious Disease advance publication web section due to new data that may influence the guidance] 

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AASLD 2011: New NS5A Inhibitor PPI-461 Shows Promising Safety and Efficacy in Brief Study

Presidio's hepatitis C virus (HCV) NS5A inhibitor candidate PPI-461 demonstrated rapid and potent antiviral activity in a 3-day study, but resistance may be a problem, according to a study presented at the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases Liver Meeting (AASLD 2011) this week in San Francisco.

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